A1 Journal article (refereed)
JUNO sensitivity to low energy atmospheric neutrino spectra (2021)

The JUNO Collaboration. (2021). JUNO sensitivity to low energy atmospheric neutrino spectra. European Physical Journal C, 81(10), Article 887. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09565-z

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: The JUNO Collaboration

Journal or series: European Physical Journal C

ISSN: 1434-6044

eISSN: 1434-6052

Publication year: 2021

Volume: 81

Issue number: 10

Article number: 887

Publisher: Springer

Publication country: Germany

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09565-z

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/78196

Publication is parallel published: https://repo.scoap3.org/records/65217

Abstract

Atmospheric neutrinos are one of the most relevant natural neutrino sources that can be exploited to infer properties about cosmic rays and neutrino oscillations. The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) experiment, a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector with excellent energy resolution is currently under construction in China. JUNO will be able to detect several atmospheric neutrinos per day given the large volume. A study on the JUNO detection and reconstruction capabilities of atmospheric νe and νμ fluxes is presented in this paper. In this study, a sample of atmospheric neutrino Monte Carlo events has been generated, starting from theoretical models, and then processed by the detector simulation. The excellent timing resolution of the 3” PMT light detection system of JUNO detector and the much higher light yield for scintillation over Cherenkov allow to measure the time structure of the scintillation light with very high precision. Since νe and νμ interactions produce a slightly different light pattern, the different time evolution of light allows to discriminate the flavor of primary neutrinos. A probabilistic unfolding method has been used, in order to infer the primary neutrino energy spectrum from the detector experimental observables. The simulated spectrum has been reconstructed between 100 MeV and 10 GeV, showing a great potential of the detector in the atmospheric low energy region.

Keywords: particle physics; neutrinos; detectors

Free keywords: neutrinos

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

VIRTA submission year: 2021

JUFO rating: 2