TY - JOUR
T1 - JUNO sensitivity to invisible decay modes of neutrons
AU - JUNO Collaboration
AU - JUNO Collaboration
AU - Abusleme, Angel
AU - Adam, Thomas
AU - Adamowicz, Kai
AU - Ahmad, Shakeel
AU - Ahmed, Rizwan
AU - Aiello, Sebastiano
AU - An, Fengpeng
AU - An, Qi
AU - Andronico, Giuseppe
AU - Anfimov, Nikolay
AU - Antonelli, Vito
AU - Antoshkina, Tatiana
AU - de André, João Pedro Athayde Marcondes
AU - Auguste, Didier
AU - Bai, Weidong
AU - Balashov, Nikita
AU - Baldini, Wander
AU - Barresi, Andrea
AU - Basilico, Davide
AU - Baussan, Eric
AU - Bellato, Marco
AU - Beretta, Marco
AU - Bergnoli, Antonio
AU - Bick, Daniel
AU - Bieger, Lukas
AU - Biktemerova, Svetlana
AU - Birkenfeld, Thilo
AU - Blake, Iwan
AU - Blyth, Simon
AU - Bolshakova, Anastasia
AU - Bongrand, Mathieu
AU - Breton, Dominique
AU - Brigatti, Augusto
AU - Brugnera, Riccardo
AU - Bruno, Riccardo
AU - Budano, Antonio
AU - Busto, Jose
AU - Cabrera, Anatael
AU - Caccianiga, Barbara
AU - Cai, Hao
AU - Cai, Xiao
AU - Cai, Yanke
AU - Cai, Zhiyan
AU - Callier, Stéphane
AU - Calvez, Steven
AU - Cammi, Antonio
AU - Campeny, Agustin
AU - Cao, Chuanya
AU - Cao, Guofu
AU - Datta, Jaydeep
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2025/1
Y1 - 2025/1
N2 - We explore the decay of bound neutrons in the JUNO liquid scintillator detector into invisible particles (e.g., n→3ν or nn→2ν), which do not produce an observable signal. The invisible decay includes two decay modes: n→inv and nn→inv. The invisible decays of s-shell neutrons in 12C will leave a highly excited residual nucleus. Subsequently, some de-excitation modes of the excited residual nuclei can produce a time- and space-correlated triple coincidence signal in the JUNO detector. Based on a full Monte Carlo simulation informed with the latest available data, we estimate all backgrounds, including inverse beta decay events of the reactor antineutrino ν¯e, natural radioactivity, cosmogenic isotopes and neutral current interactions of atmospheric neutrinos. Pulse shape discrimination and multivariate analysis techniques are employed to further suppress backgrounds. With two years of exposure, JUNO is expected to give an order of magnitude improvement compared to the current best limits. After 10 years of data taking, the JUNO expected sensitivities at a 90% confidence level are τ/B(n→inv)>5.0×1031years and τ/B(nn→inv)>1.4×1032years.
AB - We explore the decay of bound neutrons in the JUNO liquid scintillator detector into invisible particles (e.g., n→3ν or nn→2ν), which do not produce an observable signal. The invisible decay includes two decay modes: n→inv and nn→inv. The invisible decays of s-shell neutrons in 12C will leave a highly excited residual nucleus. Subsequently, some de-excitation modes of the excited residual nuclei can produce a time- and space-correlated triple coincidence signal in the JUNO detector. Based on a full Monte Carlo simulation informed with the latest available data, we estimate all backgrounds, including inverse beta decay events of the reactor antineutrino ν¯e, natural radioactivity, cosmogenic isotopes and neutral current interactions of atmospheric neutrinos. Pulse shape discrimination and multivariate analysis techniques are employed to further suppress backgrounds. With two years of exposure, JUNO is expected to give an order of magnitude improvement compared to the current best limits. After 10 years of data taking, the JUNO expected sensitivities at a 90% confidence level are τ/B(n→inv)>5.0×1031years and τ/B(nn→inv)>1.4×1032years.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85214485519
U2 - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-13638-0
DO - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-13638-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85214485519
SN - 1434-6044
VL - 85
JO - European Physical Journal C
JF - European Physical Journal C
IS - 1
M1 - 5
ER -