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Hard antineutrino source based on a lithium blanket: A version for the accelerator target

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Abstract

The β–-active 8Li isotope has a hard and well-defined antineutrino spectrum (E ν max= 13.0 MeV, E ν= 6.5 MeV) that ensures the reliable detection of the threshold reactions (ν e, p) and (ν e, d). An intense ν e source is proposed within a scheme comprising an accelerator with a neutron-producing target and a lithium blanket. The density analysis of 8Li production in this blanket shows that the mass of highly pure 7Li can be reduced to 100–200 kg, as compared to ~19.5 t in the option with metallic 7Li, and the size of the source can be decreased by a factor of ~2.5, which is important for the proposed short-base experiments on the search for sterile neutrinos.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    V. I. Lyashuk

  2. National Research Center Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, Russia

    V. I. Lyashuk

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  1. V. I. Lyashuk
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Correspondence to V. I. Lyashuk.

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Original Russian Text © V.I. Lyashuk, 2017, published in Pis’ma v Zhurnal Fizika Elementarnykh Chastits i Atomnogo Yadra, 2017.

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Lyashuk, V.I. Hard antineutrino source based on a lithium blanket: A version for the accelerator target. Phys. Part. Nuclei Lett. 14, 465–473 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1134/S154747711703013X

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