Search for Very-Short-Baseline Oscillations of Reactor Antineutrinos with the SoLid Detector

International audienceIn this letter we report the first scientific result based on antineutrinos emitted from the BR2 reactor at SCK CEN. The SoLid experiment uses a novel type of highly granular detector whose basic detection unit combines two scintillators, PVT and 6LiF:ZnS(Ag), to measure antineutrinos via their inverse-beta-decay products. An advantage of PVT is its highly linear response as a function of deposited particle energy. The full-scale detector comprises 12800 voxels and operates over a very short 6.3--8.9 m baseline from the reactor core. The detector segmentation and its 3D imaging capabilities facilitate the extraction of the positron energy from the rest of the visible energy, allowing the latter to be utilised for signal-background discrimination. We present a result based on 280 reactor-on days (55 MW mean power) and 172 reactor-off days, respectively, of live data-taking. A total of 29479 $\pm$ 603 (stat.) antineutrino candidates have been selected, corresponding to an average rate of 105 events per day and a signal-to-background ratio of 0.27. A search for disappearance of antineutrinos to a sterile state has been conducted using complementary model-dependent frequentist and Bayesian fits, providing constraints on the allowed region of the Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly

Search for Very-Short-Baseline Oscillations of Reactor Antineutrinos with the SoLid Detector

International audienceIn this letter we report the first scientific result based on antineutrinos emitted from the BR2 reactor at SCK CEN. The SoLid experiment uses a novel type of highly granular detector whose basic detection unit combines two scintillators, PVT and 6LiF:ZnS(Ag), to measure antineutrinos via their inverse-beta-decay products. An advantage of PVT is its highly linear response as a function of deposited particle energy. The full-scale detector comprises 12800 voxels and operates over a very short 6.3--8.9 m baseline from the reactor core. The detector segmentation and its 3D imaging capabilities facilitate the extraction of the positron energy from the rest of the visible energy, allowing the latter to be utilised for signal-background discrimination. We present a result based on 280 reactor-on days (55 MW mean power) and 172 reactor-off days, respectively, of live data-taking. A total of 29479 $\pm$ 603 (stat.) antineutrino candidates have been selected, corresponding to an average rate of 105 events per day and a signal-to-background ratio of 0.27. A search for disappearance of antineutrinos to a sterile state has been conducted using complementary model-dependent frequentist and Bayesian fits, providing constraints on the allowed region of the Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly

Search for Very-Short-Baseline Oscillations of Reactor Antineutrinos with the SoLid Detector

International audienceIn this letter we report the first scientific result based on antineutrinos emitted from the BR2 reactor at SCK CEN. The SoLid experiment uses a novel type of highly granular detector whose basic detection unit combines two scintillators, PVT and 6LiF:ZnS(Ag), to measure antineutrinos via their inverse-beta-decay products. An advantage of PVT is its highly linear response as a function of deposited particle energy. The full-scale detector comprises 12800 voxels and operates over a very short 6.3--8.9 m baseline from the reactor core. The detector segmentation and its 3D imaging capabilities facilitate the extraction of the positron energy from the rest of the visible energy, allowing the latter to be utilised for signal-background discrimination. We present a result based on 280 reactor-on days (55 MW mean power) and 172 reactor-off days, respectively, of live data-taking. A total of 29479 $\pm$ 603 (stat.) antineutrino candidates have been selected, corresponding to an average rate of 105 events per day and a signal-to-background ratio of 0.27. A search for disappearance of antineutrinos to a sterile state has been conducted using complementary model-dependent frequentist and Bayesian fits, providing constraints on the allowed region of the Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly

Search for Very-Short-Baseline Oscillations of Reactor Antineutrinos with the SoLid Detector

International audienceIn this letter we report the first scientific result based on antineutrinos emitted from the BR2 reactor at SCK CEN. The SoLid experiment uses a novel type of highly granular detector whose basic detection unit combines two scintillators, PVT and 6LiF:ZnS(Ag), to measure antineutrinos via their inverse-beta-decay products. An advantage of PVT is its highly linear response as a function of deposited particle energy. The full-scale detector comprises 12800 voxels and operates over a very short 6.3--8.9 m baseline from the reactor core. The detector segmentation and its 3D imaging capabilities facilitate the extraction of the positron energy from the rest of the visible energy, allowing the latter to be utilised for signal-background discrimination. We present a result based on 280 reactor-on days (55 MW mean power) and 172 reactor-off days, respectively, of live data-taking. A total of 29479 $\pm$ 603 (stat.) antineutrino candidates have been selected, corresponding to an average rate of 105 events per day and a signal-to-background ratio of 0.27. A search for disappearance of antineutrinos to a sterile state has been conducted using complementary model-dependent frequentist and Bayesian fits, providing constraints on the allowed region of the Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly

The CCube reconstruction algorithm for the SoLid experiment

International audienceThe SoLid experiment is a very-short-baseline experiment aimed at searching for nuclear reactor-produced active to sterile antineutrino oscillations. The detection principle is based on the pairing of two types of solid scintillators: polyvinyl toluene and $^6$LiF:ZnS(Ag), which is a new technology used in this field of Physics. In addition to good neutron-gamma discrimination, this setup allows the detector to be highly segmented (the basic detection unit is a 5 cm side cube). High segmentation provides numerous advantages, including the precise location of Inverse Beta Decay (IBD) products, the derivation of the considerate antineutrino energy estimator, and a powerful background reduction tool based on the topological signature of the signal. Finally, the system is read out by a network of wavelength-shifting fibres coupled to a photodetector (MPPC). This paper describes the design of the reconstruction algorithm that allows maximum use of the granularity of the detector. The goal of the algorithm is to convert the output of the optical-fibre readout to the list of the detection units from which it originated. This paper provides a performance comparison for three methods and concludes with a choice of the baseline approach for the experiment

The CCube reconstruction algorithm for the SoLid experiment

International audienceThe SoLid experiment is a very-short-baseline experiment aimed at searching for nuclear reactor-produced active to sterile antineutrino oscillations. The detection principle is based on the pairing of two types of solid scintillators: polyvinyl toluene and $^6$LiF:ZnS(Ag), which is a new technology used in this field of Physics. In addition to good neutron-gamma discrimination, this setup allows the detector to be highly segmented (the basic detection unit is a 5 cm side cube). High segmentation provides numerous advantages, including the precise location of Inverse Beta Decay (IBD) products, the derivation of the considerate antineutrino energy estimator, and a powerful background reduction tool based on the topological signature of the signal. Finally, the system is read out by a network of wavelength-shifting fibres coupled to a photodetector (MPPC). This paper describes the design of the reconstruction algorithm that allows maximum use of the granularity of the detector. The goal of the algorithm is to convert the output of the optical-fibre readout to the list of the detection units from which it originated. This paper provides a performance comparison for three methods and concludes with a choice of the baseline approach for the experiment

The CCube reconstruction algorithm for the SoLid experiment

International audienceThe SoLid experiment is a very-short-baseline experiment aimed at searching for nuclear reactor-produced active to sterile antineutrino oscillations. The detection principle is based on the pairing of two types of solid scintillators: polyvinyl toluene and $^6$LiF:ZnS(Ag), which is a new technology used in this field of Physics. In addition to good neutron-gamma discrimination, this setup allows the detector to be highly segmented (the basic detection unit is a 5 cm side cube). High segmentation provides numerous advantages, including the precise location of Inverse Beta Decay (IBD) products, the derivation of the considerate antineutrino energy estimator, and a powerful background reduction tool based on the topological signature of the signal. Finally, the system is read out by a network of wavelength-shifting fibres coupled to a photodetector (MPPC). This paper describes the design of the reconstruction algorithm that allows maximum use of the granularity of the detector. The goal of the algorithm is to convert the output of the optical-fibre readout to the list of the detection units from which it originated. This paper provides a performance comparison for three methods and concludes with a choice of the baseline approach for the experiment