A First Search for Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering with Liquid Argon

Abstract

First proposed by Freedman in 1974, coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) is the dominant low energy neutrino coupling and provides a window to many interesting areas of physics research: nuclear structure, physics beyond the Standard Model, and supernovae evolution and detection. The COHERENT collaboration recently observed CEvNS with a low background 14.6 kg CsI[Na] crystal at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Lab. A primary goal of COHERENT is to measure the $N^2$ dependence of the CEvNS cross section. To that end, COHERENT has deployed the single-phase liquid argon detector CENNS-10 to provide a low $N$ measurement of the cross section. CENNS-10 completed an Engineering Run in the spring of 2017. From this analysis, a vital in-situ measurement of the beam-related neutron flux in liquid argon, relevant for future measurements, was made and a limit on the CEvNS cross section on argon, consistent with the Standard Model prediction, was placed. Finally, implications for non-standard neutrino interactions were investigated.