Neutrino physics with an opaque detector

In 1956 Reines & Cowan discovered the neutrino using a liquid scintillator detector. The neutrinos interacted with the scintillator, producing light that propagated across transparent volumes to surrounding photo-sensors. This approach has remained one of the most widespread and successful neutrino detection technologies used since. This article introduces a concept that breaks with the conventional paradigm of transparency by confining and collecting light near its creation point with an opaque scintillator and a dense array of optical fibres. This technique, called LiquidO, can provide high-resolution imaging to enable efficient identification of individual particles event-by-event. A natural affinity for adding dopants at high concentrations is provided by the use of an opaque medium. With these and other capabilities, the potential of our detector concept to unlock opportunities in neutrino physics is presented here, alongside the results of the first experimental validation.

Neutrino mass ordering determination through combined analysis with JUNO and KM3NeT/ORCA

The neutrino mass ordering (NMO) is one of the fundamental questions in neutrino physics. KM3NeT/ORCA and JUNO are two neutrino oscillation experiments both aiming at measuring the NMO with different approaches: ORCA with atmospheric neutrinos traversing the Earth and JUNO with reactor neutrinos. This contribution presents the potential of determining the NMO through a combined analysis of JUNO and ORCA data. In a joint fit, the NMO sensitivity is enhanced beyond the simple sum of the sensitivities of each experiment due to the tension between the respective Δm 31 2 best fit values obtained when the wrong ordering is assumed, together with good constraints on this parameter measurement by both experiments. From this analysis, we expect the true NMO to be determined with 5σ significance after 1–2 years of data taking by both experiments for the current global best-fit values of the oscillation parameters, while maximally 6 years will be needed for any other parameter set.

Can strangelets be detected in a large LAr neutrino detector?

Predicted as possible bound states of up, down and strange quarks, strangelets could be more energetically favourable and more stable than nuclear matter. In this paper we explore the possibility of detecting such particles with the future large liquid argon detectors developed for neutrino physics. Using signals from ionization and scintillation, as well as measuring the range, we suggest that a calorimetric TPC detector is able to put in evidence and to discriminate between light strangelets and normal isotopes at intermediate energies.

Neutrino Physics

Neutrinos offered the greatest surprises in high energy physics during the last decades. In this chapter we review the main milestones of this passionate history: the first neutrino beams which established the separate neutrino identities, the Gargamelle discovery of the weak neutral currents, the LEP determination of three light neutrino species and the discovery of the intriguing phenomenon of neutrino oscillations. The experimental determination of the neutrino mass matrix elements is still in progress with several experiments either taking data or planned for the near future. We end with the present theoretical puzzles and the experiments which may help to solve them.

Future prospects in neutrino physics

Neutrino physics has come a long way and made great strides in the past decades. We discuss the prospects of what more can be learned in this field in the forthcoming neutrino oscillation facilities. We will mostly focus on the potential of the long-baseline experiments and the atmospheric neutrino experiments. Sensitivity of these experiments to standard neutrino oscillation parameters will be presented. We will also discuss the prospects of new physics searches at these facilities.

Status and Perspectives on Rare Decay Searches in Tellurium Isotopes

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) is a posited lepton number violating decay whose search is an increasingly active field in modern astroparticle physics. A discovery would imply neutrinos are Majorana particles and inform neutrino physics, cosmology and beyond-standard-model theories. Among the few nuclei where double beta decay (ββ) is allowed, tellurium isotopes stand for their high natural abundance and are currently employed in multiple experiments. The search for 0νββ will provide large exposure data sets in the coming years, paving the way for unprecedented sensitivities. We review the latest rare decay searches in tellurium isotopes and compare past results with theories and prospects from running experiments.