Exploring low-energy neutrino physics with the Coherent Neutrino Nucleus Interaction Experiment (CONNIE)

Authors:
  • AAAlexis Aguilar-Arevalo
    Alexis Aguilar-Arevalo
  • XBXavier Bertou
    Xavier Bertou
  • CBCarla Bonifazi
    Carla Bonifazi
  • GCGustavo Cancelo
    Gustavo Cancelo
  • ACAlejandro Castañeda
    Alejandro Castañeda
  • BVBrenda Cervantes Vergara
    Brenda Cervantes Vergara
  • CCClaudio Chavez
    Claudio Chavez
  • JDJuan C. D'Olivo
    Juan C. D'Olivo
  • JAJoão C. dos Anjos
    João C. dos Anjos
  • JEJuan Estrada
    Juan Estrada
  • ANAldo R. Fernandes Neto
    Aldo R. Fernandes Neto
  • GMGuillermo Fernandez Moroni
    Guillermo Fernandez Moroni
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Abstract
The Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Interaction Experiment (CONNIE) uses low-noise fully depleted charge-coupled devices (CCDs) with the goal of measuring low-energy recoils from coherent elastic scattering (CE$\nu$NS) of reactor antineutrinos with silicon nuclei. This standard model process has not yet been observed at recoil energies below 20 keV. We report here the first results of the detector array deployed in 2016, with an active mass of 73.2 g (12 CCDs), which is operating at a distance of 30 m from the core of the Angra 2 nuclear reactor, with a thermal power of 3.8 GW. A search for neutrino events is performed by comparing data collected with reactor on (2.1 kg-day) and reactor off (1.6 kg-day). The results show no excess in the reactor-on data, reaching the world record sensitivity down to recoil energies of about 1 keV (0.1 keV electron-equivalent). A 95% confidence level limit for new physics is established at an event rate of 40 times the one expected from the standard model at this energy scale. The results presented here provide a new window to the low-energy neutrino physics, which allows one to explore for the first time the lowest energies accessible through the CE$\nu$NS with antineutrinos from nuclear reactors.
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