Physics Colloquium with Kate Scholberg on "Bowling in Neutrino Alley"
Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) was first predicted in 1974; it’s a process in which a neutrino scatters off an entire nucleus. By neutrino standads, CEvNS occurs frequently, but is tremendously challenging to detect. The only way to observe it is to detect the minuscule thump of the nuclear recoil. CEvNS was measured for the first time by the COHERENT collaboration using the unique, high-quality source of neutrinos from the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, USA.
COHERENT has now made CEvNS measurements in two different materials, cesium iodide and argon, and is planning several more. This talk will describe the use of CEvNS to search for physics beyond the standard model of particle physics, COHERENT's recent measurements, and the status and future plans of COHERENT's suite of detectors at the SNS.