Design, Status and Physics Potential of JUNO

TL;DR

JUNO is a large underground liquid scintillator detector designed to determine neutrino mass ordering and measure neutrino oscillation parameters with high precision, aiming to start data collection in 2023.

Contribution

This paper presents the design, construction status, and physics potential of JUNO, highlighting its unprecedented energy resolution and scientific goals.

Findings

Expected to determine neutrino mass ordering with 3σ significance within six years.

Aims to measure solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters with 0.5% accuracy.

Details on the detector's design, construction progress, and R&D efforts are provided.

Abstract

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20 kton multi-purpose liquid scintillator detector currently being built in a dedicated underground laboratory in Jiangmen (PR China). Data-taking is expected to start in 2023. JUNO's main physics goal is the determination of the neutrino mass ordering using electron anti-neutrinos from two nuclear power plants at a baseline of about 53 km. JUNO aims for an unprecedented energy resolution of 3 $\%$ at 1 MeV for the central detector, which will allow determining the mass ordering with 3 $\sigma$ significance within six years of operation. Furthermore, measurements in neutrino physics and astrophysics, such as estimating the solar oscillation parameters and the atmospheric mass splitting with an accuracy of 0.5 $\%$ or better, will be performed. In these proceedings, JUNO's design, the status of its construction, and its physics potential, will be presented alongside a short excursion into its rich R$\&$D program.