Neutrino oscillation studies with reactors.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 25913819.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms7935 and PMC identifier 4423222.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Nuclear reactors are one of the most intense, pure, controllable, cost-effective and well-understood sources of neutrinos. Reactors have played a major role in the study of neutrino oscillations, a phenomenon that indicates that neutrinos have mass and that neutrino flavours are quantum mechanical mixtures. Over the past several decades, reactors were used in the discovery of neutrinos, were crucial in solving the solar neutrino puzzle, and allowed the determination of the smallest mixing angle θ13. In the near future, reactors will help to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to solve the puzzling issue of sterile neutrinos.