The PROSPECT reactor antineutrino experiment

Abstract The Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment, PROSPECT, is designed to make both a precise measurement of the antineutrino spectrum from a highly- enriched uraniumreactor and to probe eV-scale sterile neutrinosby searching for neutrino oscillationsover meter-long baselines. PROSPECTutilizes a segmented 6 Li-doped liquid scintillator detector for both efficient detection of reactor antineutrinos through the inverse beta decayreaction and excellent background discrimination. PROSPECTis a movable 4-ton antineutrino detector covering distances of 7 m to 13 m from the High Flux Isotope Reactorcore. It will probe the best-fit point of the ν e disappearance experiments at 4 σ in 1 year and the favored regions of the sterile neutrinoparameter space at more than 3 σ in 3 years. PROSPECTwill test the origin of spectral deviations observed in recent θ 13 experiments, search for sterile neutrinos, and address the hypothesis of sterile neutrinosas an explanation of the reactor anomaly. This paper describes the design, construction, and commissioning of PROSPECTand reports first data characterizing the performance of the PROSPECTantineutrino detector.