Commissioning of the NUCLEUS Experiment at the Technical University of Munich
The NUCLEUS experiment aims to detect coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering of reactor antineutrinos on <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:mrow> <a:msub> <a:mrow> <a:mi>CaWO</a:mi> </a:mrow> <a:mrow> <a:mn>4</a:mn> </a:mrow> </a:msub> </a:mrow> </a:math> targets in the fully coherent regime, using gram-scale cryogenic calorimeters. The experimental apparatus will be installed at the Chooz nuclear power plant in France, in the vicinity of two <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:mrow> <c:mn>4.25</c:mn> <c:mtext> </c:mtext> <c:mtext> </c:mtext> <c:msub> <c:mrow> <c:mi>GW</c:mi> </c:mrow> <c:mrow> <c:mi>th</c:mi> </c:mrow> </c:msub> </c:mrow> </c:math> reactor cores. This work presents results from the commissioning of an essential version of the experiment at the shallow Underground Laboratory of the Technical University of Munich. For the first time, two cryogenic target detectors were tested alongside active and passive shielding systems. Over a period of two months, all detector subsystems were operated with stable performance. Background measurements were conducted, providing important benchmarks for the modeling of background sources at the reactor site. Finally, we present ongoing efforts to upgrade the detector systems in preparation for a technical run at Chooz in 2026, and highlight the remaining challenges to achieving neutrino detection.
Authors
- F. Cappella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0900-6794)
- D. Lhuillier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2324-0149)
- E. Bossio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9304-1829)
- C. Tomei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7549-6229)
- T. Ortmann
- A Cruciani
- F. Petricca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6355-2545)
- S. Fichtinger
- B. Mauri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6833-2907)
- C. Nones
- M. Giammei
- C. Schwertner
- M. Kaznacheeva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2712-1326)
- M Vignati
- A. Erhart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8721-177X)
- F. Buchsteiner
- F. Reindl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0151-2174)
- B. Arnold
- A. Mazzolari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0804-6778)
- A. Langenkämper
- S. Schönert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5276-2881)
- M. Vivier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2199-0958)
- H. Neyrial
- J. Burkhart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1989-7845)
- Robert Martin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1727-9557)
- G. del Castello (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7182-358X)
- L. Peters (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1649-8582)
- H. Abele (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6832-9051)
- H. Kluck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3061-3732)
- W. Potzel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1442-6833)
- M. Atzori Corona (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5092-3602)
- C. Goupy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4954-5311)
- A. Bento (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3817-6015)
- L. Stodolsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4842-1889)
- R. Thalmeier
- S. Dorer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1670-5780)
- G. Angloher
- A. Wex (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5371-2466)
- V. M. Ghete (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9595-6560)
- L. Scola
- E. Jericha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8663-0526)
- G. Soum-Sidikov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1900-1794)
- Du Toit Strauss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0205-0808)
- N Casali
- M. Romagnoni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2775-6903)
- J. Schieck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1058-8093)
- F. Pröbst (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0856-253X)
- J. Rothe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5748-7428)
- F. Jeanneau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6360-6136)
- M. Friedl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7420-2559)
- R. Cerulli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2051-3471)
- T. Lasserre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4975-2321)
- D. Hauff
- M. del Gallo Roccagiovine (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5861-7443)
- F. Pucci
- N. Schermer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4213-5154)
- M Mancuso
- L Oberauer
- L. McCallin
- M. Cappelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6148-5964)
Institutions
- University of Rome Tor Vergata (IT)
- TU Wien (AT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (IT)
- University of Ferrara (IT)
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Max Planck Institute for Physics (DE)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma Tre (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Ferrara (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Roma Tor Vergata (IT)
- CEA Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Institute of High Energy Physics (AT)
- Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (FR)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Published
- 2025-09-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/c95p-8kh2
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.87