Reactor Antineutrino Spectral "Bump": Cumulative Fission Yields of Irradiated U-235 and Pu-239 Measured by HPGe Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study investigates the origin of the reactor antineutrino spectral bump by measuring fission yields of specific nuclides in U-235 and Pu-239 using gamma-ray spectroscopy, emphasizing the importance of accurate nuclear data.

Contribution

It provides new experimental fission yield data for suspect nuclides related to the spectral bump, highlighting discrepancies in existing nuclear data libraries.

Findings

Fission yields for several nuclides align with JEFF3.3 library.

Discrepancy observed for Cs-140 from Pu-239 suggests potential errors in data libraries.

Results underscore the importance of accurate nuclear data for antineutrino spectrum analysis.

Abstract

Recent measurements of the reactor antineutrino emission show that there exists a spectral excess (the "bump") in the 5-7 MeV region when compared to the Huber-Muller prediction based on the conversion method. Analysis within an alternate prediction technique, the summation method, suggests that the bump could be due to excess contributions from a certain few of the beta-decaying fission products. However, it has been shown that when updated fission yield values are used in the summation method, the predicted excess vanishes. In the present preliminary study, fission yields for nuclides suspected of causing the neutrino spectral bump are investigated using gamma-ray spectroscopy of U-235 and Pu-239 samples freshly irradiated using the High Flux Isotope Reactor. For several of the suspect nuclides, the derived fission yields are consistent with JEFF3.3 fission yield library. The exception is the case of Cs-140 from Pu-239, where the discrepancy between the fitted and expected values suggests a potential error in the fission yield library. This highlights the importance of using accurate nuclear data libraries in the analysis of the reactor antineutrino spectra, and the need for ongoing efforts to improve these libraries.