Exploring the electromagnetic properties of neutrinos at a short-baseline reactor neutrino experiment

TL;DR

This paper investigates how short-baseline reactor neutrino experiments can be used to measure neutrino electromagnetic properties, including the weak mixing angle, charge radius, and magnetic moment, providing competitive bounds.

Contribution

It introduces a method to determine neutrino electromagnetic properties using electron-neutrino elastic scattering at short-baseline experiments, with sensitivity estimates for key parameters.

Findings

Potential to set competitive bounds on neutrino electromagnetic properties.

Sensitivity to the weak mixing angle, charge radius, and magnetic moment.

Projected limits improve upon or complement existing measurements.

Abstract

Upcoming and present reactor neutrino experiments represent an appealing tool to probe fundamental properties in the neutrino sector. In this paper, we study the physics potential to determine the electromagnetic properties of neutrinos via electron--neutrino elastic scattering (E$\nu$ES) at a short-baseline neutrino experiment. We evaluate the sensitivity to the weak mixing angle, $\sin^2\theta_W$, employing antineutrinos from a nuclear reactor source. Furthermore, from the sensitivity to $\sin^2 \theta_W$, we obtain bounds on the neutrino charge radius. We also present the projected sensitivity to the effective neutrino magnetic moment, $\mu_{\nu}$. Compared with other reactor neutrino measurements, this experimental configuration may set competitive limits on the electromagnetic properties of neutrinos.