Improved Measurement of the Evolution of the Reactor Antineutrino Flux and Spectrum at Daya Bay

International audienceReactor neutrino experiments play a crucial role in advancing our knowledge of neutrinos. In this Letter, the evolution of the flux and spectrum as a function of the reactor isotopic content is reported in terms of the inverse-beta-decay yield at Daya Bay with 1958 days of data and improved systematic uncertainties. These measurements are compared with two signature model predictions: the Huber-Mueller model based on the conversion method and the SM2018 model based on the summation method. The measured average flux and spectrum, as well as the flux evolution with the Pu239 isotopic fraction, are inconsistent with the predictions of the Huber-Mueller model. In contrast, the SM2018 model is shown to agree with the average flux and its evolution but fails to describe the energy spectrum. Altering the predicted inverse-beta-decay spectrum from Pu239 fission does not improve the agreement with the measurement for either model. The models can be brought into better agreement with the measurements if either the predicted spectrum due to U235 fission is changed or the predicted U235, U238, Pu239, and Pu241 spectra are changed in equal measure

Precision Measurement of Reactor Antineutrino Oscillation at Kilometer-Scale Baselines by Daya Bay

We present a new determination of the smallest neutrino mixing angle θ13 and the mass-squared difference Δm322 using a final sample of 5.55×106 inverse beta-decay (IBD) candidates with the final-state neutron captured on gadolinium. This sample is selected from the complete dataset obtained by the Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment in 3158 days of operation. Compared to the previous Daya Bay results, selection of IBD candidates has been optimized, energy calibration refined, and treatment of backgrounds further improved. The resulting oscillation parameters are sin22θ13=0.0851±0.0024, Δm322=(2.466±0.060)×10-3  eV2 for the normal mass ordering or Δm322=-(2.571±0.060)×10-3  eV2 for the inverted mass ordering.We present a new determination of the smallest neutrino mixing angle ${\theta}_{13}$ and the mass-squared difference ${\Delta}{\rm m}^{2}_{32}$ using a final sample of $5.55 \times 10^{6}$ inverse beta-decay (IBD) candidates with the final-state neutron captured on gadolinium. This sample was selected from the complete data set obtained by the Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment in 3158 days of operation. Compared to the previous Daya Bay results, selection of IBD candidates has been optimized, energy calibration refined, and treatment of backgrounds further improved. The resulting oscillation parameters are ${\rm sin}^{2}2{\theta}_{13} = 0.0851 \pm 0.0024$, ${\Delta}{\rm m}^{2}_{32} = (2.466 \pm 0.060) \times 10^{-3}{\rm eV}^{2}$ for the normal mass ordering or ${\Delta}{\rm m}^{2}_{32} = -(2.571 \pm 0.060) \times 10^{-3} {\rm eV}^{2}$ for the inverted mass ordering