Observation of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering

Understand

The coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off nuclei has eluded detection for four decades, even though its predicted cross-section is the largest by far of all low-energy neutrino couplings.

• This mode of interaction provides new opportunities to study neutrino properties, and leads to a miniaturization of detector size, with potential technological applications.
• We observe this process at a 6.7-sigma confidence level, using a low-background, 14.6-kg CsI[Na] scintillator exposed to the neutrino emissions from the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
• Characteristic signatures in energy and time, predicted by the Standard Model for this process, are observed in high signal-to-background conditions.