Exploring light Z´-bosons and neutron skin with Coherent Elastic neutrino Nucleus Scattering at the ESS

by Johan Rathsman (Lund University)

Thursday 10 Sept 2026, 10:30 → 11:30 Europe/Stockholm

Beurlingrummet (Å10238) (Ångströmlaboratoriet)

Coherent Elastic neutrino Nucleus Scattering at spallation sources such as the ESS, offer new exciting possibilities to study fundamental physics in a small scale experiment. There is an ongoing effort at Lund and Uppsala universities to explore these possibilities in more detail. I will present the theoretical background for CEvNS and as examples, describe the possibility to search for the X17 - a hypothetical light Z´-boson, that can explain observations in Be8* -> Be8 decays and other nuclear transitions made by the ATOMKI experiment, as well as possibilities to observe the neutron distribution in nuclei and exploring the neutron skin effect. I will present how the nuclear recoil spectrum would be modified for these two cases and discuss the prospects for studying them in more detail in an experiment at the ESS using a Germanium detector.

Work done in collaboration with Joakim Cederkäll, Yasar Hicyilmaz, Else Lytken, Stefano Moretti