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Studies of Neutrino Interactions and Dark Matter with the COHERENT experiment

ORAL

Abstract

The COHERENT collaboration operates an array of detectors at the ORNL Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) to measure coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering (CEvNS) and to search for dark matter. The 1.4 MW SNS pulsed proton beam produces an intense neutrino flux and may be producing dark matter particles. Our low-energy-threshould detectors sited in the low-background "Neutrino Alley" near this source are producing world-leading sensitivity for these measurements. We observed the first events from CEvNS in 2017 with a cesium-iodide scintillation detector and have new results from an expanded data set. We followed up with a measurement, published in 2020 on a lighter argon nucleus confirming the CEvNS hypothesis. These data sets can also be used to search for dark matter as predicted in a class of portal-particle dark matter theories and our recent cesium-iodide results elimate some parameter-space required to explain cosmologically observed dark-matter. These measurements will be presented along with plans for further extending our physics reach with new detectors in the near future.

Presenters

  • Rex Tayloe

    Indiana University Bloomington

Authors

  • Rex Tayloe

    Indiana University Bloomington