COHERENT constraints after the COHERENT-2020 quenching factor measurement

D K Papoulias

doi:10.1103/physrevd.102.113004

D K Papoulias

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.102.113004

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Abstract

Recently an improved quenching factor (QF) measurement for low-energy nuclear recoils in CsI[Na] has been reported by the COHERENT Collaboration. The new energy-dependent QF is characterized by a reduced systematic uncertainty and leads to a better agreement between the experimental COHERENT data and the Standard Model (SM) expectation. In this work, we report updated constraints on parameters that describe the process of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering within and beyond the SM, and we also present how the new QF affects their interpretation.

Highlights

The first observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS) was made at the COHERENT experiment using a CsI[Na] detector at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) [1,2], providing a novel powerful probe for a wide range of low-energy physics searches
The subject became of intense interest during the latest period, and a plethora of extensive studies constantly appear covering a wide spectrum of new physics phenomena such as nonstandard interactions (NSIs) [8,9,10,11,12,13,14], neutrino electromagnetic properties [15,16,17,18], sterile neutrinos [19,20,21], charge-parity violation [22], and new mediators [23,24,25,26]
We perform a sensitivity analysis of the parameter set S in question that follows from a χ2ðSÞ fit that is relevant for the CsI detector at the COHERENT experiment and reads [1]

Summary

Introduction

The first observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS) was made at the COHERENT experiment using a CsI[Na] detector at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) [1,2], providing a novel powerful probe for a wide range of low-energy physics searches. This motivated a large number of theoretical studies to analyze the recorded CEνNS signal for performing precision tests of the Standard Model (SM) [3] and for investigating possible signatures of new physics beyond the SM [4,5,6,7]. From the perspective of experimental physics, several experimental proposals aim to measure CEνNS at the SNS [39] and at reactor facilities [40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47] (for a review, see Ref. [48])

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