Getting the most neutrinos out of IsoDAR

Abstract

Abstract Several experimental collaborations worldwide intend to test sterile neutrino models by measuring the disappearance of antineutrinos produced via isotope decay at rest (IsoDAR). The most advanced of these proposals have very similar setups, in which a proton beam strikes a target yielding neutrons which are absorbed by a high isotopic purity $${}^7\hbox {Li}$$ 7 Li converter, yielding $${}^8\hbox {Li}$$ 8 Li whose resulting decay yields the antineutrinos. In this note, we use FLUKA and GEANT4 simulations to investigate three proposed modifications of this standard proposal. In the first, the $${}^7\hbox {Li}$$ 7 Li is replaced with $${}^7\hbox {Li}$$ 7 Li compounds including a deuterium moderator. In the second, a gap is placed between the target and the converter to reduce the neutron bounce-back. Finally, we consider cooling the converter with liquid nitrogen. We find that these modifications can increase the antineutrino yield by as much as 50%. The first also substantially reduces the quantity of high purity $${}^7\hbox {Li}$$ 7 Li which is needed.