Creation of the second neutrino laboratory at the SM-3 reactor in order to increase the accuracy of the "Neutrino-4" experiment

Abstract

In the experiment "Neutrino-4" on the search for a sterile neutrino, the effect of oscillations was found at a confidence level of 3 standard deviations. In order to significantly increase the accuracy of the experiment, a second neutrino laboratory is created at the SM-3 reactor (Dimitrovgrad, Russia) and a new neutrino detector is developed. The scintillation-type detector consists of 4 modules having a multi-sectional structure with a horizontal arrangement of 100 sections with PMTs located on both sides of the section. The possibility of increasing the accuracy of the experiment by a factor of 2.7 is shown, which will make it possible to achieve a confidence level of more than 5 standard deviations and answer the question of the existence of a sterile neutrino. Keywords: sterile neutrino, reactor antineutrino.