Speaker
Description
The first physics results from the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) have demonstrated the strong scientific potential of next-generation, large-scale liquid scintillator neutrino detectors. Beyond precision oscillation measurements, further advances in detector concepts are essential to enhance the sensitivity to rare-event searches in possible future upgrades of the JUNO detector, including the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB) and neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ). A promising approach is the separation of Cherenkov and scintillation light, which provides additional topological and timing information beyond conventional reconstruction techniques in liquid scintillator detectors. The feasibility of this method has been successfully demonstrated at low energies by the Borexino Collaboration.
In this work, we present a detailed study of the key factors governing the Cherenkov–scintillation separation performance, with a particular focus on the emission spectra of target materials. Future studies will employ Monte Carlo simulations to quantitatively evaluate the achievable background suppression and improvements in event reconstruction using information extracted from the table-top experimental setup. Our preliminary results highlight the strong potential of hybrid Cherenkov–scintillation detection techniques for future detector upgrades, with particular relevance to rare-event searches.
This work is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under Germany´s Excellence Strategy EXC 2094 - 390783311 and EXC 2118 - 390831469 and through the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1258, as well as the DFG Research Units FOR 2319 - 268668443 and FOR 5519 - 498394246. We also acknowledge the support from the University of Milan (UNIMI) and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Milan section.