PROSPECT – A precision reactor oscillation and spectrum experiment

Abstract

PROSPECT is a reactor antineutrino experiment whose primary goals are to search for short-baseline neutrino oscillations and perform a precise measurement of the [Formula: see text]U reactor antineutrino energy spectrum. Since March 2018, PROSPECT has operated a 4 ton antineutrino detector less than 10 m from the 85 MW High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Operating in this environment with tight space constraints and limited overburden to attenuate cosmic ray backgrounds is a significant technical challenge. The PROSPECT detector design uses efficient optical segmentation and a 6Li-doped liquid scintillator with good light yield and pulse-shape discrimination properties to achieve excellent energy reconstruction and background rejection in a compact, space efficient system. Initial results from PROSPECT have demonstrated the ability to detect 100 s of antineutrino events per day with good signal-to-background in this aboveground location and perform precise measurements of the HFIR antineutrino energy spectrum.