Ke Han
(Yale University)
PROSPECT: the Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment
The Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment, PROSPECT, is designed to make a precise measurement of the reactor antineutrino spectrum to test the origin of the spectral deviations observed in recent theta-13 experiments, search for sterile neutrinos, and conclusively address the hypothesis of sterile neutrinos as an explanation of the reactor anomaly. PROSPECT is conceived as a 2-phase experiment utilizing segmented 6Li-doped liquid scintillator detectors for both efficient detection of reactor antineutrinos through the inverse beta decay reaction and excellent background discrimination. PROSPECT Phase I consists of a movable 3-ton antineutrino detector at distances of 7 - 12 m from the reactor core. It will probe the best-fit point of the nu_e disappearance experiments at 4sigma in 1 year and the favored region of the sterile neutrino parameter space at >3sigma in 3 years. With a second antineutrino detector at 15 - 19 m from the reactor, Phase II of PROSPECT can probe the entire allowed parameter space below 10 eV2 at 5sigma in 3 additional years. In this talk, I will give an overview of the PROSPECT physics program, the latest R&D results, and ongoing development on prototype detectors.