Speaker
Description
The first observation of coherent elastic neutrino–nucleus scattering (CE$\nu$NS) at a nuclear reactor has opened a new experimental avenue for Standard Model tests and searches for physics beyond it, while also providing a novel probe of reactor neutrino production. Reactor-based CE$\nu$NS experiments offer a largely unexplored opportunity to address long-standing questions in reactor physics. We study the sensitivity to the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum of a next-generation germanium-based CE$\nu$NS experiment deployed in close proximity to a nuclear reactor core. The sensitivity to different spectral regions is quantified, and the capability to discriminate between competing reactor flux models is evaluated for realistic experimental configurations. We show that CE$\nu$NS measurements provide spectral information complementary to inverse beta decay experiments. Low-threshold germanium detectors at short baselines access regions of the antineutrino spectrum affected by reactor modeling uncertainties. The prospects for probing the reactor antineutrino bump are explored, outlining conditions under which CE$\nu$NS measurements could help resolve its origin.