Neutrino NSI in archaeological Pb

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the potential of the RES-NOVA experiment, using archaeological lead crystals, to detect non-standard neutrino interactions through coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, with promising sensitivity improvements.

Contribution

It introduces the RES-NOVA detector concept with archaeological lead and assesses its sensitivity to neutrino non-standard interactions, highlighting potential for new physics exploration.

Findings

RES-NOVA can match current NSI global fit sensitivities in its nominal setup.

Lowering energy thresholds enhances sensitivity beyond existing bounds.

Increasing exposure also improves the ability to probe new NSI parameter space.

Abstract

Dark matter direct detection experiments can observe solar neutrinos via coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, making it possible to test new physics in the neutrino sector. In this article, we study the sensitivity of RES-NOVA, a novel cryogenic calorimetric experiment employing PbWO$_4$ crystals grown from archaeological lead, to neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI). We perform a sensitivity study for a benchmark setup with a nominal energy threshold of 1 keV and an exposure of 1 ton$\cdot$y, both for a conservative (only heat readout) and ideal (heat and scintillation) background rejection scenario. We find that, in its nominal configuration, RES-NOVA can reach sensitivities to NSI at the level of current global fits. With moderate or significant improvements of the threshold down to 0.5 keV and 0.1 keV, RES-NOVA will be able to achieve sensitivities beyond NSI global fit results, testing new areas of the parameter space in the electron and tau sectors, $\varepsilon_{ee}$, $\varepsilon_{\tau\tau}$, and $\varepsilon_{e\tau}$. A similar improvement in sensitivities is expected when instead increasing the exposure to 10 ton$\cdot$y.