Speaker
Description
The CONUS experiment (COherent elastic NeUtrino nucleus Scattering) aimed to detect coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) of reactor antineutrinos on germanium nuclei by measuring their recoil after such an interaction. It operated from 2017 to 2022 at 17m distance from the 3.9 GWth core of the Brokdorf nuclear power
plant (Germany). The experiment employed four 1 kg point-contact high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors and was able to measure the current best limit for CEvNS at reactor site.
In the CONUS experiment Geant4 simulations were used extensively to optimise the shield setup of the experiment and to fully characterise the measured background. This talk will present some of the results of these simulations as well as some of the challenges that were faced due to the unique location of a low background experiment at a nuclear power plant. Additionally, the next chapter of CONUS, the CONUS+ experiment in Leibstadt, Switzerland, will be introduced. Just like for its predecessor, Geant4 simulations again play a prominent role in the planning and the data analysis of this new experiment and their contributions will be presented here.
