High flux lithium antineutrino source with variable hard spectrum

TL;DR

This paper proposes a high flux, variable spectrum lithium antineutrino source based on neutron activation and beta-decay of 8Li, enhancing detection rates for neutrino experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, controllable antineutrino source with a hard spectrum, improving detection statistics and spectrum tunability for neutrino oscillation research.

Findings

Antineutrino flux expressions derived analytically.

Source increases reaction cross section by up to tens of times.

Spectrum hardness can be smoothly varied.

Abstract

The work is devoted to development of hard electron antineutrino source with variable and regulated (controlled) spectrum. The high flux antineutrino source with hard antineutrino spectrum based on neutron activation of 7Li and subsequent fast beta-decay (T 1/2 = 0.84 s) of the 8Li isotope with emission of antineutrino with energy up to 13 MeV - is discussed. Creation of the intensive isotope neutrino source of hard spectrum will allow to increase the detection statistics of neutrino interaction and it is especially urgent for oscillation experiments. The scheme of the proposed neutrino source is based on the continuous transport of the created 8Li to the neutrino detector, which moved away from the place of neutron activation. Analytical expressions for lithium antineutrino flux is obtained. The discussed source will ensure to increase the cross section for reactions with deuteron from several times to tens compare to the reactor antineutrino spectrum. An another unique feature of the installation is the possibility to vary smoothly the hardness of the antineutrino spectrum.