Analysis of Recent Experimental Reactor Antineutrino Data to Probe Deficits and Oscillations

Ever since their discovery as a byproduct of β decay, neutrinos have been a perplexing part of modern physics. Although difficult to detect, they are integral to understanding the weak nuclear force and play an important role in the formation of helium in stars and energy released in core-collapse supernovae. These elementary particles also behave uniquely compared to the other members of the Standard Model through the process of neutrino oscillation whereby their identities change as they move through space. Nuclear reactors have been an important source for antineutrino experiments starting with confirmation of their existence in the 1950s. However, recent experiments such as Daya Bay, RENO, and NEOS, which all used several commercial nuclear reactors and years of observations, have observed less antineutrinos than theoretical models predict. I have used computational tools to study this phenomenon and explore its causes which could include be the basis for new discoveries such as a fourth “sterile” neutrino. The work conducted at BNL and presented here investigates anomalous features within experimental antineutrino data from these recent experimental efforts. It concludes that there are clear signatures caused by specific nuclei in nuclear reactors correlated across data from all three experiments.