Implications of the first CONUS+ measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering

TL;DR

The paper reports the first CONUS+ measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering using reactor antineutrinos, with implications for standard model parameters and new physics, including neutrino properties and interactions.

Contribution

It presents the first CONUS+ experimental results and explores their implications for neutrino physics and beyond standard model theories.

Findings

Observation of CEvNS with 3.7 sigma significance

Constraints on the weak mixing angle from reactor neutrinos

Limits on nonstandard neutrino interactions and magnetic moments

Abstract

The CONUS+ collaboration has reported their first observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$\nu$NS). The experiment uses reactor electron antineutrinos and germanium detectors with recoil thresholds as low as $160~\mathrm{eV_\text{ee}}$. With an exposure of $327$ kg $\times$ d, the measurement was made with a statistical significance of $3.7 \sigma$. We explore several physics implications of this observation, both within the standard model and in the context of new physics. We focus on a determination of the weak mixing angle, nonstandard and generalized neutrino interactions both with heavy and light mediators, neutrino magnetic moments, and the up-scattering of neutrinos into sterile fermions through the sterile dipole portal and new mediators. Our results highlight the role of reactor-based \cevns~experiments in probing a vast array of neutrino properties and new physics models.