DOE OSTI2022
The Baksan Experiment on Sterile Transitions (BEST) was designed to investigate the deficit of electron neutrinos 𝜈𝑒 observed in previous gallium-based radiochemical measurements with high-intensity neutrino sources, commonly referred to as the “gallium anomaly,” which could be interpreted as evidence for oscillations between 𝜈𝑒 and sterile neutrino (𝜈 𝑠 ) states. A 3.414-MCi 51 Cr 𝜈 𝑒 source was placed at the center of two nested Ga volumes and measurements were made of the production of 71 Ge through the charged current reaction, 71 Ga (𝜈 𝑒 ,𝑒 − ) 71 Ge, at two average distances. The measured production rates for the inner and the outer targets, respectively, are [54.9$^{+2.5}_{−2.4}$(stat) ± 1.4(syst)] and [55.6$^{+2.7}_{−2.6}$(stat) ± 1.4(syst)] atoms of 71 Ge/𝑑. The ratio (𝑅) of the measured rate of 71 Ge production at each distance to the expected rate from the known cross section and experimental efficiencies are 𝑅 in = 0.79 ± 0.05 and 𝑅 out = 0.77 ± 0.05. The ratio of the outer to the inner result is 0.97 ± 0.07, which is consistent with unity within uncertainty. The rates at each distance were found to be similar, but 20%–24% lower than expected, thus reaffirming the anomaly. Furthermore, these results are consistent with 𝜈 𝑒 → 𝜈 𝑠 oscillations with a relatively large Δ𝑚 2 (>0.5 eV 2 ) and mixing sin 2 2𝜃 (≈ 0.4).
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗