Search for coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering with the NUCLEUS Experiment

Parallel talk presented at the XXI International Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes - Padova 29 September - 3 October 2025 (https://agenda.infn.it/event/44606/) On behalf of the NUCLEUS Collaboration Abstract: Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CEνNS) is a Standard Model process in which a neutrino scatters coherently off an entire nucleus via weak neutral current interactions. First predicted by Freedman in 1973, it remained undetected for over four decades due to the extremely low nuclear recoil energies it produces. In recent years, CEνNS has emerged as a powerful probe for a broad range of physics scenarios, marking a new era in neutrino physics. In this talk, I will present the current status and prospects of the NUCLEUS experiment, which is designed to measure the CEνNS cross-section with high precision and probe the regime of full coherence. The detector employs cryogenic calorimeters based on CaWO₄ and Al₂O₃ crystals, with a total target mass of approximately 10 grams and a nuclear recoil energy threshold as low as 20 eV. The experiment will exploit the intense antineutrino flux from the two reactor cores of the Chooz-B nuclear power plant in France. Following a successful commissioning campaign at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), including the simultaneous operation of different subsystems and a dedicated measurement for background model validation, NUCLEUS is now being relocated to its final experimental site.