%0 Journal Article
%T Experimental Parameters for a Reactor Antineutrino Experiment at Very Short Baselines
%A K. M. Heeger
%A B. R. Littlejohn
%A H. P. Mumm
%A M. N. Tobin
%J Physics
%D 2012
%I arXiv
%R 10.1103/PhysRevD.87.073008
%X Reactor antineutrinos are used to study neutrino oscillation, search for signatures of non-standard neutrino interactions, and to monitor reactor operation for safeguard applications. The flux and energy spectrum of reactor antineutrinos can be predicted from the decays of the nuclear fission products. A comparison of recent reactor calculations with past measurements at baselines of 10-100m suggests a 5.7% deficit. Precision measurements of reactor antineutrinos at very short baselines O(1-10 m) can be used to probe this anomaly and search for possible oscillations into sterile neutrino species. This paper studies the experimental requirements for a new reactor antineutrino measurement at very short baselines and calculates the sensitivity of various scenarios. We conclude that an experiment at a typical research reactor provides 5{\sigma} discovery potential for the favored oscillation parameter space with 3 years of data collection.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.2182v1