Relativistic millicharged particles ($chi_q$) have been proposed in various extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics. We consider the scenarios where they are produced at nuclear reactor core and via interactions of cosmic-rays with the earths atmosphere. Millicharged particles could also be candidates for dark matter, and become relativistic through acceleration by supernova explosion shock waves. The atomic ionization cross section of $chi_q$ with matter are derived with the equivalent photon approximation. Smoking-gun signatures with significant enhancement in the differential cross section are identified. New limits on the mass and charge of $chi_q$ are derived, using data taken with a point-contact germanium detector with 500g mass functioning at an energy threshold of 300~eV at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor Neutrino Laboratory.
We report results from searches of pseudoscalar and vector bosonic super-weakly interacting massive particles (super-WIMP) in the TEXONO experiment at the Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Station, using 314.15 kg days of data from $n$-type Point-Contact Germanium detector. The super-WIMPs are absorbed and deposit total energy in the detector, such that the experimental signatures are spectral peaks corresponding to the super-WIMP mass. Measured data are compatible with the background model, and no significant excess of super-WIMP signals are observed. We derived new upper limits on couplings of electrons with the pseudoscalar and vector bosonic super-WIMPs in the sub-keV mass region, assuming they are the dominant contributions to the dark matter density of our galaxy.
Studies on electron antineutrino-electron elastic scattering were performed using a 200-kg CsI(Tl) scintillating crystal detector array at the Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Plant in Taiwan. The measured cross section of R(exp) = [1.00 +- 0.32(stat)]xR(SM) is consistent with the Standard Model expectation and the corresponding weak mixing angle derived is sin2T = 0.24 +- 0.05 (stat). The results are consistent with a destructive interference effect between neutral and charged-currents in this process. Limits on neutrino magnetic moment of mu(nu_(e)) < 2.0 x 10^(-10) mu_(B) at 90% confidence level and on electron antineutrino charge radius of r^(2) < (0.12 +- 2.07)x10^(-32) cm^2 were also derived.
We report in situ neutron background measurements at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor Neutrino Laboratory (KSNL) by a hybrid neutron detector (HND) with a data size of 33.8 days under identical shielding configurations as during the neutrino physics data taking. The HND consists of BC-501A liquid and BC-702 phosphor powder scintillation neutron detectors, which is sensitive to both fast and thermal neutrons, respectively. Neutron-induced events for the two channels are identified and differentiated by pulse shape analysis, such that background of both are simultaneously measured. The fast neutron fluxes are derived by an iterative unfolding algorithm. Neutron induced background in the germanium detector under the same fluxes, both due to cosmic-rays and ambient radioactivity, are derived and compared with the measurements. The results are valuable to background understanding of the neutrino data at the KSNL. In particular, neutron-induced background events due to ambient radioactivity as well as from reactor operation are negligible compared to intrinsic cosmogenic activity and ambient $gamma$-activity. The detector concept and analysis procedures are applicable to neutron background characterization in similar rare-event experiments.
With the advent of detectors with sub-keV sensitivities, atomic ionization has been identified as a promising avenue to probe possible neutrino electromagnetic properties. The interaction cross-sections induced by millicharged neutrinos are evaluated with the ab-initio multi-configuration relativistic random-phase approximation. There is significant enhancement at atomic binding energies compared to that when the electrons are taken as free particles. Positive signals would distinctly manifest as peaks at specific energies with known intensity ratios. Selected reactor neutrino data with germanium detectors at analysis threshold as low as 300 eV are studied. No such signatures are observed, and a combined limit on the neutrino charge fraction of | umq | < 1.0 X 10^{-12} at 90% confidence level is derived.
Short distance reactor antineutrino experiments measure an antineutrino spectrum a few percent lower than expected from theoretical predictions. In this work we study the potential of low energy threshold reactor experiments in the context of a light sterile neutrino signal. We discuss the perspectives of the recently detected coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering in future reactor antineutrino experiments. We find that the expectations to improve the current constraints on the mixing with sterile neutrinos are promising. We also analyse the measurements of antineutrino scattering off electrons from short distance reactor experiments. In this case, the statistics is not competitive with inverse beta decay experiments, although future experiments might play a role when compare it with the Gallium anomaly.