Nuclear Propelled Vessels and Neutrino Oscillation Experiments

TL;DR

This paper explores how naval nuclear reactors impact neutrino oscillation experiments, proposing that nuclear-powered ships could serve as controlled sources for precise measurements and subsequent geological and astrophysical studies.

Contribution

It introduces the idea of using nuclear-powered surface ships as flexible, well-located neutrino sources for high-precision oscillation experiments and background measurements.

Findings

Naval reactors at unknown locations can limit experiment accuracy.

Nuclear-powered ships can serve as ideal, controllable neutrino sources.

Variable baselines improve background measurement and reduce systematics.

Abstract

We study the effect of naval nuclear reactors on the study of neutrino oscillations. We find that the presence of naval reactors at unknown locations and times may limit the accuracy of future very long baseline reactor-based neutrino oscillation experiments. At the same time we argue that a nuclear powered surface ship such as a large Russian ice-breaker may provide an ideal source for precision experiments. While the relatively low reactor power would in this case require a larger detector, the source could be conveniently located at essentially any distance from a detector built at an underground location near a shore in a region of the world far away from other nuclear installations. The variable baseline would allow for a precise measurement of backgrounds and greatly reduced systematics from reactor flux and detector efficiency. In addition, once the oscillation measurement is completed, the detector could perform geological neutrino and astrophysical measurements with minimal reactor background.