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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

The XLZD Design Book: towards the next-generation liquid xenon observatory for dark matter and neutrino physics

This report describes the experimental strategy and technologies for XLZD, the next-generation xenon observatory sensitive to dark matter and neutrino physics. In the baseline design, the detector will have an active liquid xenon target of 60 tonnes, which could be increased to 80 tonnes if the market conditions for xenon are favorable. It is based on the mature liquid xenon time projection chamber technology used in current-generation experiments, LZ and XENONnT. The report discusses the baseline design and opportunities for further optimization of the individual detector components. The experiment envisaged here has the capability to explore parameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter down to the neutrino fog, with a 3σ evidence potential for WIMP-nucleon cross sections as low as 3 x 10 –49 cm 2 (at 40 GeV/c 2 WIMP mass). The observatory will also have leading sensitivity to a wide range of alternative dark matter models. It is projected to have a 3σ observation potential of neutrinoless double beta decay of 136 Xe at a half-life of up to 5.7 x 10 27 years. Additionally, it is sensitive to astrophysical neutrinos from the sun and galactic supernovae.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Synergy between cosmological and laboratory searches in neutrino physics

The intersection of the cosmic and neutrino frontiers is a rich field where much discovery space still remains. Neutrinos play a pivotal role in the hot big bang cosmology, influencing the dynamics of the universe over numerous decades in cosmological history. Recent studies have made tremendous progress in understanding some properties of cosmological neutrinos, primarily their energy density. Upcoming cosmological probes will measure the energy density of relativistic particles with higher precision, but could also start probing other properties of the neutrino spectra. When convolved with results from terrestrial experiments, cosmology can become even more acute at probing new physics related to neutrinos or even Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Any discordance between laboratory and cosmological data sets may reveal new BSM physics and/or suggest alternative models of cosmology. Here we give examples of the intersection between terrestrial and cosmological probes in the neutrino sector, and briefly discuss the possibilities of what different laboratory experiments may see in conjunction with cosmological observatories.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Neutrino Physics Opportunities with Pion and Kaon Decay-at-Rest Neutrino Source

Low-energy neutrino sources, such as those from stopped-pion, stopped-kaon or core-collapse supernova, interact with target nuclei in detectors through either coherent elastic or inelastic scattering processes. These interactions provide valuable insights into various Standard Model and Beyond the Standard Model phenomena, with significant implications for nuclear physics, particle physics, and astrophysics. The precision of coherent elastic scattering, where the nucleus remains in its ground state, depends on the accuracy of the underlying weak form factor of the nucleus. In contrast, inelastic scattering, where neutrinos excite the target nucleus to low-lying nuclear states, involves complex nuclear structures and dynamics and are quite poorly constrained. In this talk, I will present the physics opportunities offered by these neutrino sources, produced as secondary beams in an electron beam dump configuration at Jefferson Lab, and discuss their synergy with global neutrino experiments.

Pandey, Vishvas [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Call to Arms Control: Synergies between Nonproliferation Applications of Neutrino Detectors and Large-Scale Fundamental Neutrino Physics Experiments (A Snowmass White Paper)

The High Energy Physics community can benefit from a natural synergy in research activities into next-generation large-scale water and scintillator neutrino detectors, now being studied for remote reactor monitoring, discovery and exclusion applications in cooperative nonproliferation contexts. Since approximately 2010, US nonproliferation researchers, supported by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), have been studying a range of possible applications of relatively large (100 ton) to very large (hundreds of kiloton) water and scintillator neutrino detectors. In parallel, the fundamental physics community has been developing detectors at similar scales and with similar design features for a range of high-priority physics topics, primarily in fundamental neutrino physics. These topics include neutrino oscillation studies at beams and reactors, solar, and geological neutrino measurements, supernova studies, and others. Examples of ongoing synergistic work at U.S. national laboratories and universities include prototype gadolinium-doped water and water-based and opaque scintillator test-beds and demonstrators, extensive testing and industry partnerships related to large area fast position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes, and the development of concepts for a possible underground kiloton-scale water-based detector for reactor monitoring and technology demonstrations. Some opportunities for engagement between the two communities include bi-annual Applied Antineutrino Physics conferences, collaboration with U.S. National Laboratories engaging in this research, and occasional NNSA funding opportunities supporting a blend of nonproliferation and basic science R&D, directed at the U.S. academic community.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

First direct 7 Be electron-capture $\mathrm{Q}$-value measurement toward high-precision searches for neutrino physics beyond the Standard Model

Here, we report the first direct measurement of the nuclear electron-capture (EC) decay Q value of 7 Be → 7 Li via high-precision Penning trap mass spectrometry (PTMS). This was performed using the LEBIT Penning trap located at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory/Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (NSCL/FRIB) using the newly commissioned Batch-Mode Ion-Source (BMIS) to deliver the unstable 7 Be + samples. With a measured value of Q EC = 861.963(23) keV, this result is three times more precise than any previous determination of this quantity. This improved precision and accuracy of the 7 Be EC decay Q value is critical for ongoing experiments that measure the recoiling nucleus in this system as a signature to search for beyond the Standard Model (BSM) neutrino physics using 7 Be-doped superconducting sensors. This experiment has extended LEBIT capabilities, using the first low-energy beam delivered by BMIS at FRIB for PTMS, as well as measuring the lightest-mass isotopes so far with LEBIT.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Neutrino physics beyond the current paradigm

An exciting program of international neutrino experiments aims to complete our understanding of three-neutrino mixing in the Standard Model (SM), which has had great success in describing world neutrino data. However, there exist a number of short-baseline neutrino anomalies that do not fit into this simple picture and could be pointing us instead to phenomena beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Neutrinos and neutrino experiments are excellent laboratories to search for BSM physics for a number a reasons. First, neutrinos mass itself is evidence of BSM physics as it implies the addition of new fields to the SM. In addition, neutrino properties are not well-constrained and allow sizable, new interactions. Finally, accelerator- and reactor-based short-baseline neutrino experiments bring high luminosity sources of photons, nuclear, and meson decays near large, sensitive detectors and can therefore probe a variety of dark sector models. In this talk, I will give an overview of worldwide accelerator- and reactor-based short-baseline neutrino experiments and their efforts to search for physics beyond the current paradigm.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Research in Neutrino Physics (Final Technical Report)

The goal of the experimental neutrino efforts at Louisiana State University is to measure the properties of neutrinos and to improve our understanding of neutrino interactions. In pursuit of this goal, the group will continue its Intensity Frontier work on the DUNE experiment at Fermilab and the T2K experiment at J-PARC, Japan. The current work is focused on understanding how neutrinos change flavor and on the possibility for asymmetry between neutrinos and anti-neutrinos. The effort on T2K includes physics measurements using the collected T2K data and preparation for the second phase T2K-II data with an increased beam power and the newly upgraded ND280 detector, featuring a novel 3D fine grained scintillation tracker with 4π acceptance and 3D readout. T2K is in a position to improve our understanding of neutrino nucleus interactions which continue to be one of the largest systematic uncertainties for neutrino oscillation measurements. On DUNE, the effort is on analyzing the data collected by the ProtoDUNE-SP prototype at CERN and on the design, installation, and commissioning of ProtoDUNE-II and later the DUNE Far Detector cold electronics. The final DUNE Module-1 components will be fully characterized by ProtoDUNE-II and the collected data will be used to improve and tune simulation and reconstruction algorithms, and to measure hadron scattering cross section, used to improve the modeling of neutrino final state interactions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

A next-generation liquid xenon observatory for dark matter and neutrino physics

The nature of dark matter and properties of neutrinos are among the most pressing issues in contemporary particle physics. The dual-phase xenon time-projection chamber is the leading technology to cover the available parameter space for weakly interacting massive particles, while featuring extensive sensitivity to many alternative dark matter candidates. These detectors can also study neutrinos through neutrinoless double-beta decay and through a variety of astrophysical sources. A next-generation xenon-based detector will therefore be a true multi-purpose observatory to significantly advance particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, solar physics, and cosmology. This review article presents the science cases for such a detector.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

Proton transparency and neutrino physics: New methods and modeling

Extracting accurate results from neutrino oscillation and cross section experiments requires accurate simulation of the neutrino-nucleus interaction. The rescattering of outgoing hadrons (final state interactions) by the rest of the nucleus is an important component of these interactions. We present a new measurement of proton transparency (defined as the fraction of outgoing protons that emerge without significant rescattering) using electron-nucleus scattering data recorded by the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory on helium, carbon, and iron targets. This analysis uses a new data-driven method to extract the transparency. It defines transparency as the ratio of electron-scattering events with a detected proton to quasi-elastic electron-scattering events where a proton should have been knocked out. Our results are consistent with previous measurements that determined the transparency from the ratio of measured events to theoretically predicted events. We find that the GENIE event generator, which is widely used by oscillation experiments to simulate neutrino-nucleus interactions, needs to better describe both the nuclear ground state and proton rescattering in order to reproduce our measured transparency ratios, especially at lower proton momenta.

direct reactions↗
DOE OSTI2025

Research in Theoretical Particle Physics: Neutrino Masses and The Origin of CP-Violation

The main goal of this project was to investigate the theories of neutrino masses at the low scale and the origin of CP-violation in physics beyond the Standard Model. The origin of neutrino masses is one of the most pressing issues in particle physics. In this proposal, we investigated the theories for neutrino masses based on local total lepton number. In these theories anomaly cancellation predicts the existence of extra fermions with lepton number, and one of them is a good dark matter (DM) candidate. The cosmological constraints on the DM relic density implies that the lepton number symmetry breaking scale must be below the multi-TeV scale. Therefore, one can hope to test the origin of neutrino masses in current or future experiments. We investigated in great detail the anomaly cancellation in these gauge theories, study the different mechanisms for neutrino masses, study the predictions for direct and indirect dark matter experiments. Since these theories predict new sources of CP violation, we investigated the predictions for the electric dipole moments (EDM). The Higgs decays and the different signatures at the Large Hadron Collider were investigated in great detail. Finally, we studied the possible baryogenesis mechanisms in these theories in agreement with the EDM, DM and collider constraints. The origin of CP violation in the Standard Model is unknown. In this proposal, we investigated the simplest mechanisms for spontaneous CP-violation to explain the CP-violation in the CKM matrix and the value of the QCD vacuum angle. We discussed the Nelson-Barr mechanism in gauge theories predicting vector-like quarks from anomaly cancellation such as theories for local baryon number. We discussed the Bento-Branco-Parada mechanism in gauge theories to explain the CP-Violation in the CKM matrix. We will investigate models with two Higgs doublets in the context of the minimal theory for quark-lepton unification. We will show the non-decoupling effects in the Higgs sector, the main constraints coming from flavour violating processes when the Yukawa couplings are related by the gauge symmetry in theories for quark-lepton unification. We will investigate the predictions for electric dipole moments in these theories. The possibility to have successful baryogenesis was investigated. Finally, we investigated the relation between CP-violation in the quark and leptonic sectors. The future results from these studies could help us to understand two main issues in physics beyond the Standard Model: The Origin of Neutrino Masses and CP-violation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Graph neural network for neutrino physics event reconstruction

Liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) detector technology offers a wealth of high-resolution information on particle interactions, and leveraging that information to its full potential requires sophisticated automated reconstruction techniques. Here, this article describes NUGRAPH 2, a graph neural network for low-level reconstruction of simulated neutrino interactions in a LArTPC detector. Simulated neutrino interactions in the MicroBooNE detector geometry are described as heterogeneous graphs, with energy depositions on each detector plane forming nodes on planar subgraphs. The network utilizes a multihead attention message-passing mechanism to perform background filtering and semantic labeling on these graph nodes, identifying those associated with the primary physics interaction with 98.0% efficiency and labeling them according to particle type with 94.9% efficiency. The network operates directly on detector observables across multiple two-dimensional representations but utilizes a three-dimensional-context-aware mechanism to encourage consistency between these representations. Model inference takes 0.12 s / event on a CPU and 0.005 s / event batched on a GPU. This architecture is designed to be a general-purpose solution for particle reconstruction in neutrino physics, with the potential for deployment across a broad range of detector technologies, and offers a core convolution engine that can be leveraged for a variety of tasks beyond the two described in this paper.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

New opportunities at the next-generation neutrino experiments I: BSM neutrino physics and dark matter

The combination of the high intensity proton beam facilities and massive detectors for precision measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters including the charge-parity violating (CPV) phase will open the door to help make beyond the standard model (BSM) physics reachable even in low energy regimes in the accelerator-based experiments. Large-mass detectors with highly precise tracking and energy measurements, excellent timing resolution, and low energy thresholds will enable the searches for BSM phenomena from cosmogenic origin, as well. Therefore, it is also conceivable that BSM topics in the next-generation neutrino experiments could be the dominant physics topics in the foreseeable future, as the precision of the neutrino oscillation parameter and CPV measurements continue to improve. This paper reviews the current landscape of BSM theory in neutrino experiments in two selected areas of the BSM topics-dark matter and neutrino related BSM-and summarizes the current results from existing neutrino experiments to set benchmarks for both theory and experiment. This paper then provides a review of upcoming neutrino experiments throughout the next 10 to 15 year time scale and their capabilities to set the foundation for potential reach in BSM physics in the two aforementioned themes. An important outcome of this paper is to ensure theoretical and simulation tools exist to carry out studies of these new areas of physics, from the first day of the experiments, such as Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment in the U.S. and Hyper-Kamiokande Experiment in Japan.

dark sector↗
DOE OSTI2022

High Precision Penning Trap Measurements of beta-decay Q-values for Neutrino Physics

The 2015 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald “for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass”. This fact has wide reaching implications for the standard model of particle physics, nuclear physics, and cosmology. However, important fundamental questions remain: What is the absolute neutrino mass scale? Is the neutrino a Majorana or a Dirac particle? A number of large-scale experiments are underway or are being developed to attempt to answer these questions. Two classes of experiments are direct neutrino mass determination experiments, and searches for neutrinoless double betadecay. This work aimed to aid these experiments via high-precision Q value determinations for the relevant isotopes using Penning trap mass spectrometry (PTMS).

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Participation in Intensity Frontier Neutrino Physics (closeout report)

The flagship currently-running experiment at Fermilab is the NuMI Off-axis νe Appearance (NOvA) experiment. Together with the (complementary) T2K experiment in Japan, it provides the opportunity for improved measurement precision on neutrino mixing parameters and addresses topics of strong interest: whether neutrino masses follow a normal (NH) or inverted (IH) hierarchy; whether the ν 3 state contains a symmetric mixture of ν µ and ν τ (“maximal mixing,” pointing to a possible new symmetry of nature), or, if not, what is the octant of θ 23 ; and whether neutrino mixing violates CP symmetry. Recent results from both experiments suggest we may be on the verge of important discoveries. Towards the end of the decade, these experiments will be superseded by DUNE in the U.S. and HyperK in Japan.

2x2↗
DOE OSTI2025

Constraints on neutrino physics from DESI DR2 BAO and DR1 full shape

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Collaboration has obtained robust measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations in the redshift range 0.1 < 𝑧 < 4.2, based on the Lyman-𝛼 forest and galaxies from data release 2. We combine these measurements with cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from Planck and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope to place our tightest constraints yet on the sum of neutrino masses. Assuming the cosmological Λ⁢ CDM model and three degenerate neutrino states, we find ∑𝑚 𝜈 < 0.0642 eV (95%) with a marginalized error of 𝜎⁡(∑𝑚 𝜈 ) = 0.020 eV. We also constrain the effective number of neutrino species, finding 𝑁 eff = 3.2⁢3$^{+0.35}_{−0.34}$ (95%), in line with the Standard Model prediction. When accounting for neutrino oscillation constraints, we find a preference for the normal mass ordering and an upper limit on the lightest neutrino mass of 𝑚 𝑙 < 0.023 eV (95%). However, we determine using frequentist and Bayesian methods that our constraints are in tension with the lower limits derived from neutrino oscillations. Correcting for the physical boundary at zero mass, we report a 95% Feldman-Cousins upper limit of ∑𝑚 𝜈 < 0.053 eV, breaching the lower limit from neutrino oscillations. Considering a more general Bayesian analysis with an effective cosmological neutrino mass parameter, ∑𝑚 𝜈,eff , that allows for negative energy densities and removes unsatisfactory prior weight effects, we derive constraints that are in 3⁢𝜎 tension with the same oscillation limit, while the error rises to 𝜎⁡(∑𝑚 𝜈,eff ) = 0.053 eV. In the absence of unknown systematics, this finding could be interpreted as a hint of new physics not necessarily related to neutrinos. The preference of DESI and CMB data for an evolving dark energy model offers one possible solution. In the 𝑤 0 ⁢𝑤 𝑎 ⁢CDM model, we find ∑𝑚 𝜈 < 0.163 eV (95%), relaxing the neutrino tension. These constraints all rely on the effects of neutrinos on the cosmic expansion history. Using full-shape power spectrum measurements of data release 1 galaxies, we place complementary constraints that rely on neutrino free streaming. Our strongest such limit in Λ ⁢CDM, using selected CMB priors, is ∑𝑚 𝜈 < 0.193 eV (95%).

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantum information and quantum simulation of neutrino physics

In extreme astrophysical environments such as core-collapse supernovae and binary neutron star mergers, neutrinos play a major role in driving various dynamical and microphysical phenomena, such as baryonic matter outflows, the synthesis of heavy elements, and the supernova explosion mechanism itself. The interactions of neutrinos with matter in these environments are flavor-specific, which makes it of paramount importance to understand the flavor evolution of neutrinos. Flavor evolution in these environments can be a highly nontrivial problem thanks to a multitude of collective effects in flavor space, arising due to neutrino-neutrino ($v$-$v$) interactions in regions with high neutrino densities. A neutrino ensemble undergoing flavor oscillations under the influence of significant $v$-$v$ interactions is somewhat analogous to a system of coupled spins with long-range interactions among themselves and with an external field (‘long-range’ in momentum-space in the case of neutrinos). As a result, it becomes pertinent to consider whether these interactions can give rise to significant quantum correlations among the interacting neutrinos, and whether these correlations have any consequences for the flavor evolution of the ensemble. In particular, one may seek to utilize concepts and tools from quantum information science and quantum computing to deepen our understanding of these phenomena. In this article, we attempt to summarize recent work in this field. In conclusion, we also present some new results in a three-flavor setting, considering complex initial states.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS2014

Neutrino Physics from the Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure

This is a report on the status and prospects of the quantification of neutrino properties through the cosmological neutrino background for the Cosmic Frontier of the Division of Particles and Fields Community Summer Study long-term planning exercise. Experiments planned and underway are prepared to study the cosmological neutrino background in detail via its influence on distance-redshift relations and the growth of structure. The program for the next decade described in this document, including upcoming spectroscopic galaxy surveys eBOSS and DESI and a new Stage-IV CMB polarization experiment CMB-S4, will achieve sigma (sigma*mass(sub v)= 16 meV and sigma (Effective number of neutrino species) = 0.020. Such a mass measurement will produce a high significance detection of non-zero sigma*mass(sub v), whose lower bound derived from atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillation data is about 58 meV. If neutrinos have a minimal normal mass hierarchy, this measurement will definitively rule out the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, shedding light on one of the most puzzling aspects of the Standard Model of particle physics - the origin of mass. This precise a measurement of Neff will allow for high sensitivity to any light and dark degrees of freedom produced in the big bang and a precision test of the standard cosmological model prediction that the effective number of neutrino species = 3.046.

Neutrinos↗