Description
A core-collapse supernova burst (SNB) releases 99% of a star's gravitational potential energy via neutrinos over a period of several tens of seconds. These neutrinos have energies in the few to tens-of-MeV range. Lack of knowledge of low-energy neutrino cross sections will limit the amount of physics extracted during a future SNB. In particular, the electron neutrino-argon charged-current inelastic interaction ($\nu_e$CC) cross section has never been measured at the SNB neutrino energy range. Furthermore, different cross section calculations are only theoretically motivated and contain significant variations when comparing models. The COHERENT liquid argon detector (COH-Ar-10) observes neutrinos with energies in the tens-of-MeV at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. COH-Ar-10 provides the opportunity to study the $\nu_e$CC interaction at the relevant neutrino energy range for SNB neutrinos. To understand and characterize the COH-Ar-10 response to MeV-scale interactions, we began analyzing signals produced by cosmic muons and Michel electrons, the latter having a similar energy distribution to the SNS $\nu_e$ signal. We also developed a waveform simulation using GEANT4 information to better understand the saturation effects observed in the cosmic muon studies. This poster will detail studies into the COH-Ar-10 detector’s sensitivity to MeV-scale interactions.
| Collaboration | COHERENT |
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