Search for Sterile Neutrinos with a Radioactive Source at Daya Bay

摘要

The far site detector complex of the Daya Bay reactor experiment is proposedas a location to search for sterile neutrinos with > eV mass. Antineutrinosfrom a 500 kCi 144Ce-144Pr beta-decay source (DeltaQ=2.996 MeV) would bedetected by four identical 20-ton antineutrino targets. The site layout allowsflexible source placement; several specific source locations are discussed. Inone year, the 3+1 sterile neutrino hypothesis can be tested at essentially thefull suggested range of the parameters Delta m^2_{new} and sin^22theta_{new}(90% C.L.). The backgrounds from six nuclear reactors at >1.6 km distance areshown to be manageable. Advantages of performing the experiment at the Daya Bayfar site are described.