Frankfurt 2014 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 35: Astroteilchenphysik

HK 35.1: Talk

Wednesday, March 19, 2014, 16:30–16:45, HZ 9

Experimental Determination of the Antineutrino Spectrum of the Fission Products of U238 — •Nils Haag, Achim Gütlein, Martin Hofmann, Walter Potzel, and Lothar Oberauer — Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching

Accurate predictions of the antineutrino spectrum emitted by a nuclear reactor are of paramount importance for current and future reactor neutrino experiments. The antineutrinos are produced in the β - decays of the fission daughters of the four main fuel isotopes ²³⁵U, ²³⁸U, ²³⁹Pu, and ²⁴¹Pu. One way to calculate the total ν_e - spectrum emitted by a fuel assembly is to experimentally determine the cumulative β - spectra emitted after fission of these four main fuel isotopes and to convert these into the corresponding ν_e - spectra. Three of the four spectra could already be determined in the 1980’s, but only recently an experiment at the scientific neutron source FRM II in Garching could be performed to measure the ν_e - spectrum of ²³⁸U which contributes 10 % to the total antineutrino output of a standard PWR. With this spectrum, it is now possible to predict the antineutrino output of a reactor without the use of theoretical calculations for the contribuing spectra.
This talk describes the results of the experiment and discusses the impact on the current analysis of reactor neutrino experiments and the reactor antineutrino anomaly, which may give a hint on the possible existence of light sterile neutrinos.