DRAGON用于反应堆中微子实验的基准验证

反应堆中微子实验中需计算输出235 U、238 U、239 Pu、241 Pu在不同燃耗下的裂变份额,而通常的组件计算程序不输出这些结果。为适应反应堆中微子实验的需求,本文用Takahama-3基准对DRAGON用于压水堆燃耗进行基准验证,给出了反应堆中微子实验中关心的4种核素质量密度实验值与计算值的平均偏差,并利用计算出的裂变份额以及每次裂变释放的能量等,给出了NT3G24组件的反应堆中微子能谱,从而验证了DRAGON应用于反应堆中微子实验的可行性。

JUNO sensitivity on proton decay p→νK^(+)searches

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory(JUNO)is a large liquid scintillator detector designed to explore many topics in fundamental physics.In this study,the potential of searching for proton decay in the p→νK^(+)mode with JUNO is investigated.The kaon and its decay particles feature a clear three-fold coincidence signature that results in a high efficiency for identification.Moreover,the excellent energy resolution of JUNO permits suppression of the sizable background caused by other delayed signals.Based on these advantages,the detection efficiency for the proton decay via p→νK^(+)is 36.9%±4.9%with a background level of 0.2±0.05(syst)±0.2(stat)events after 10 years of data collection.The estimated sensitivity based on 200 kton-years of exposure is 9.6×1033 years,which is competitive with the current best limits on the proton lifetime in this channel and complements the use of different detection technologies.

反应堆几何效应对超短基线反应堆中微子实验中微子流强的影响

在超短基线反应堆中微子实验中,探测器与反应堆的距离较短,反应堆的几何效应对中微子能谱和中微子流强的影响可能无法忽略,需要对其影响进行评估。本文根据EPR(European Pressurized Reactor)堆芯的结构建立反应堆中微子源模型和点中微子源模型,研究了超短基线反应堆中微子实验中反应堆尺寸对中微子能谱和流强的影响,讨论了堆芯内功率误差分布对点源模型下预期中微子流强的影响。研究结果表明,由于反应堆的几何效应,使用点源模型会使预期中微子事例率低约0.08%~0.40%,堆芯的几何效应对中微子能谱的形状影响则在10-6量级。在超短基线反应堆中微子实验中,计算中微子流强时可以采用基于堆芯几何中心的点中微子源模型,在这种模型下,由统计误差和系统误差引入的误差可以忽略不计。

Improved measurement of electron antineutrino disappearance at Daya Bay

We report an improved measurement of the neutrino mixing angle θ13 from the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment. We exclude a zero value for sin22θ13 with a significance of 7.7 standard deviations. Electron antineutrinos from six reactors of 2.9 GWm th were detected in six antineutrino detectors deployed in two near （flux-weighted baselines of 470 m and 576 m） and one far （1648 m） underground experimental halls. Using 139 days of data, 28909 （205308） electron antineutrino candidates were detected at the far hall （near halls）. The ratio of the observed to the expected number of antineutrinos assuming no oscillations at the far hall is 0.944± 0.007（stat.） ± 0.003（syst.）. An analysis of the relative rates in six detectors finds sin22θ13=0.089± 0.010（stat.）±0.005（syst.） in a three-neutrino framework.

Improved measurement of the reactor antineutrino flux and spectrum at Daya Bay

A new measurement of the reactor antineutrino flux and energy spectrum by the Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment is reported. The antineutrinos were generated by six 2.9 GWth nuclear reactors and detected by eight antineutrino detectors deployed in two near（560 m and 600 m flux-weighted baselines） and one far（1640 m flux-weighted baseline） underground experimental halls. With 621 days of data, more than 1.2 million inverse beta decay（IBD） candidates were detected. The IBD yield in the eight detectors was measured, and the ratio of measured to predicted flux was found to be 0.946±0.020（0.992±0.021） for the Huber＋Mueller（ILL＋Vogel） model. A 2.9σ deviation was found in the measured IBD positron energy spectrum compared to the predictions. In particular, an excess of events in the region of 4–6 MeV was found in the measured spectrum, with a local significance of 4.4σ. A reactor antineutrino spectrum weighted by the IBD cross section is extracted for model-independent predictions.

Systematic impact of spent nuclear fuel on θ_(13) sensitivity at reactor neutrino experiment

Reactor neutrino oscillation experiments, such as Daya Bay, Double Chooz and RENO are designed to determine the neutrino mixing angle θ13 with a sensitivity of 0.01--0.03 in sin^2 2θ13 at 90% confidence level, an improvement over the current limit by more than one order of magnitude. The control of systematic uncertainties is critical to achieving the sin^22θ13 sensitivity goal of these experiments. Antineutrinos emitted from spent nuclear fuel （SNF） would distort the soft part of energy spectrum and may introduce a non-negligible systematic uncertainty. In this article, a detailed calculation of SNF neutrinos is performed taking account of the operation＂ of a typical reactor and the event rate in the detector is obtained. A further estimation shows that the event rate contribution of SNF neutrinos is less than 0.2% relative to the reactor neutrino signals. A global X2 analysis shows that this uncertainty will degrade the θ13 sensitivity at a negligible level.

Antineutrino energy spectrum unfolding based on the Daya Bay measurement and its applications

The prediction of reactor antineutrino spectra will play a crucial role as reactor experiments enter the precision era.The positron energy spectrum of 3.5 million antineutrino inverse beta decay reactions observed by the Daya Bay experiment,in combination with the fission rates of fissile isotopes in the reactor,is used to extract the positron energy spectra resulting from the fission of specific isotopes.This information can be used to produce a precise,data-based prediction of the antineutrino energy spectrum in other reactor antineutrino experiments with different fission fractions than Daya Bay.The positron energy spectra are unfolded to obtain the antineutrino energy spectra by removing the contribution from detector response with the Wiener-SVD unfolding method.Consistent results are obtained with other unfolding methods.A technique to construct a data-based prediction of the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum is proposed and investigated.Given the reactor fission fractions,the technique can predict the energy spectrum to a 2%precision.In addition,we illustrate how to perform a rigorous comparison between the unfolded antineutrino spectrum and a theoretical model prediction that avoids the input model bias of the unfolding method.

A study of antineutrino spectra from spent nuclear fuel at Daya Bay

The Daya Bay Reactor Antineutrino Experiment is designed to determine the as yet unknown neutrino mixing angle,θ13,by measuring the disappearance of electron antineutrinos from several nuclear reactor cores.The projected sensitivity in sin2（2θ13） of better than 0.01 at a 90% CL should be achieved after three years of data-taking.Antineutrinos emitted from spent nuclear fuel （SNF） distort the soft part of the energy spectrum.In this article,a calculation of the antineutrino spectra from the long-life isotopes in SNF is performed.A non-equilibrium generation of long half-life isotopes during the running time of the reactor is also analyzed.Finally,we show that the antineutrino event rate contribution from SNF,which has been stored in the SNF pool for several years,may be non-negligible.

Sub-percent precision measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters with JUNO

JUNO is a multi-purpose neutrino observatory under construction in the south of China.This publication presents new sensitivity estimates for the measurement of the △m_(31)^(2),△m_(21)^(2),sin^(2)θ_(12),and sin^(2)θ_(13) oscillation parameters using reactor antineutrinos,which is one of the primary physics goals of the experiment.The sensitivities are obtained using the best knowledge available to date on the location and overburden of the experimental site,the nuclear reactors in the surrounding area and beyond,the detector response uncertainties,and the reactor antineutrino spectral shape constraints expected from the TAO satellite detector.It is found that the △m_(21)^(2) and sin^(2)θ_(12) oscillation parameters will be determined to 0.5%precision or better in six years of data collection.In the same period,the △m_(31)^(2) parameter will be determined to about 0.2%precision for each mass ordering hypothesis.The new precision represents approximately an order of magnitude improvement over existing constraints for these three parameters.