Indication of Reactorν¯eDisappearance in the Double Chooz Experiment

Abstract

The Double Chooz experiment presents an indication of reactor electron antineutrino disappearance consistent with neutrino oscillations. An observed-to-predicted ratio of events of $0.944\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.016(\mathrm{stat})\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.040(\mathrm{syst})$ was obtained in 101 days of running at the Chooz nuclear power plant in France, with two $4.25\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{GW}}_{\mathrm{th}}$ reactors. The results were obtained from a single $10\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{m}}^{3}$ fiducial volume detector located 1050 m from the two reactor cores. The reactor antineutrino flux prediction used the Bugey4 flux measurement after correction for differences in core composition. The deficit can be interpreted as an indication of a nonzero value of the still unmeasured neutrino mixing parameter ${sin}^{2}2{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{13}$. Analyzing both the rate of the prompt positrons and their energy spectrum, we find ${sin}^{2}2{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{13}=0.086\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.041(\mathrm{stat})\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.030(\mathrm{syst})$, or, at 90% C.L., $0.017<{sin}^{2}2{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{13}<0.16$.