Experiment neutrino-4 on searching for a sterile neutrino with multisection detector model

• Published in: Technical physics 2017-02, Vol.62 (2), p.322-328
• Main Authors: Serebrov, A. P., Ivochkin, V. G., Samoilov, R. M., Fomin, A. K., Zinov’ev, V. G., Neustroev, P. V., Golovtsov, V. L., Chernyi, A. V., Zherebtsov, O. M., Polyushkin, A. O., Martem’yanov, V. P., Tarasenkov, V. G., Aleshin, V. I., Petelin, A. L., Izhutov, A. L., Tuzov, A. A., Sazontov, S. A., Ryazanov, D. K., Gromov, M. O., Afanas’ev, V. V., Zaitsev, M. E., Chaikovskii, M. E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antineutrinos; Classical and Continuum Physics; Detection equipment; Earth surface; Experimental Instruments and Technique; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Searching; Sensors
• ISSN: 1063-7842; 1090-6525
• DOI: 10.1134/S1063784217020268

A laboratory for searching for oscillations of reactor antineutrinos has been created based on the SM-3 reactor in order to approach the problem of the possible existence of a sterile neutrino. The multisection detector prototype with a liquid scintillator volume of 350 L was installed in mid-2015. This detector can move inside the passive shield in a range of 6–11 m from the active core of the reactor. The antineutrino flux was measured for the first time at these short distances from the active core of the reactor by the movable detector. The measurements with the multisection detector prototype demonstrated that it is possible to measure the antineutrino flux from the reactor in the complicated conditions of cosmic background on the Earth’s surface.