Attention:The NSF Public Access Repository (PAR) system and access will be unavailable from 11:00 PM ET on Thursday, August 13 until 12:00 AM ET on Friday, August 14 due to maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Search for: All records

Creators/Authors contains: "Wang, Xiangyue"

Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

  1. null (Ed.)
  2. Neutrino oscillations, a quantum effect manifesting at macroscopic scales, are governed by lepton flavor mixing angles and neutrino mass-squared differences that are fundamental parameters of particle physics, representing phenomena beyond the Standard Model. Precision measurements of these parameters are essential for testing the completeness of the three-flavor framework, determining the mass ordering of neutrinos, and probing possible new physics. The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20 kton liquid-scintillator detector located 52.5 km from multiple reactor cores, designed to resolve the interference pattern of reactor neutrinos with sub-percent precision. Here we report, using the first 59.1 days of data collected since detector completion in August 2025, the first simultaneous high-precision determination of two neutrino oscillation parameters, sin²θ₁₂ = 0.3092 ± 0.0087 and Δm²₂₁ = (7.50 ± 0.12) × 10⁻⁵ eV² for the normal mass ordering scenario, improving the precision by a factor of 1.6 relative to the combination of all previous measurements. These results advance the basic understanding of neutrinos, validate the detector's design, and confirm JUNO's readiness for its primary goal of resolving the neutrino mass ordering with a larger dataset. The rapid achievement with a short exposure highlights JUNO's potential to push the frontiers of precision neutrino physics and paves the way for its broad scientific program. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available June 11, 2027
  3. Abstract The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) started physics data taking on 26 August 2025. JUNO consists of a 20-kton liquid scintillator central detector, surrounded by a 35 kton water pool serving as a Cherenkov veto, and almost 1000 m2of plastic scintillator veto on top. The detector is located in a shallow underground laboratory with an overburden of 1800 m.w.e. This paper presents the performance results of the detector, extensively studied during the commissioning of the water phase, the subsequent liquid scintillator filling phase, and the first physics runs. The liquid scintillator achieved an attenuation length of 20.6 m at 430 nm, while the high coverage PMT system and scintillator together yielded about 1785 photoelectrons per MeV of energy deposit at the detector centre, measured using the 2.223 MeVγfrom neutron captures on hydrogen with an Am-C calibration source. The reconstructed energy resolution is 3.4% for two 0.511 MeVγat the detector centre and 2.9% for the 0.93 MeV quenched214Po alpha decays from natural radioactive sources. The energy non-linearity is calibrated to better than 1%. Intrinsic contaminations of238U and232Th in the liquid scintillator are below 10-16g/g, assuming secular equilibrium. The water Cherenkov detector achieves a muon detection efficiency better than 99.9% for muons traversing the liquid scintillator volume. During the initial science runs, the data acquisition duty cycle exceeded 97.8%, demonstrating the excellent stability and readiness of JUNO for high-precision neutrino physics. 
    more » « less
    Free, publicly-accessible full text available April 1, 2027
  4. Abstract The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a large-scale neutrino experiment with multiple physics goals including determining the neutrino mass hierarchy, the accurate measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters, the neutrino detection from supernovae, the Sun, and the Earth, etc. JUNO puts forward physically and technologically stringent requirements for its central detector (CD), including a large volume and target mass (20 kt liquid scintillator, LS), a high-energy resolution (3% at 1 MeV), a high light transmittance, the largest possible photomultiplier (PMT) coverage, the lowest possible radioactive background, etc. The CD design, using a spherical acrylic vessel with a diameter of 35.4 m to contain the LS and a stainless steel structure to support the acrylic vessel and PMTs, was chosen and optimized. The acrylic vessel and the stainless steel structure will be immersed in pure water to shield the radioactive background and bear great buoyancy. The challenging requirements of the acrylic sphere have been achieved, such as a low intrinsic radioactivity and high transmittance of the manufactured acrylic panels, the tensile and compressive acrylic node design with embedded stainless steel pad, and one-time polymerization for multiple bonding lines. Moreover, several technical challenges of the stainless steel structure have been solved: the production of low radioactivity stainless steel material, the deformation and precision control during production and assembly, and the usage of high-strength stainless steel rivet bolt and of high friction efficient linkage plate. Finally, the design of the ancillary equipment such as the LS filling, overflowing, and circulating system was done. 
    more » « less
  5. Abstract We explore the decay of bound neutrons in the JUNO liquid scintillator detector into invisible particles (e.g.,$$n\rightarrow 3 \nu $$ n 3 ν or$$nn \rightarrow 2 \nu $$ n n 2 ν ), which do not produce an observable signal. The invisible decay includes two decay modes:$$ n \rightarrow { inv} $$ n inv and$$ nn \rightarrow { inv} $$ n n inv . The invisible decays ofs-shell neutrons in$$^{12}\textrm{C}$$ 12 C will leave a highly excited residual nucleus. Subsequently, some de-excitation modes of the excited residual nuclei can produce a time- and space-correlated triple coincidence signal in the JUNO detector. Based on a full Monte Carlo simulation informed with the latest available data, we estimate all backgrounds, including inverse beta decay events of the reactor antineutrino$${\bar{\nu }}_e$$ ν ¯ e , natural radioactivity, cosmogenic isotopes and neutral current interactions of atmospheric neutrinos. Pulse shape discrimination and multivariate analysis techniques are employed to further suppress backgrounds. With two years of exposure, JUNO is expected to give an order of magnitude improvement compared to the current best limits. After 10 years of data taking, the JUNO expected sensitivities at a 90% confidence level are$$\tau /B( n \rightarrow { inv} ) > 5.0 \times 10^{31} \, \textrm{years}$$ τ / B ( n inv ) > 5.0 × 10 31 years and$$\tau /B( nn \rightarrow { inv} ) > 1.4 \times 10^{32} \, \textrm{years}$$ τ / B ( n n inv ) > 1.4 × 10 32 years
    more » « less
  6. Abstract The physics potential of detecting8B solar neutrinos will be exploited at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), in a model-independent manner by using three distinct channels of the charged current (CC), neutral current (NC), and elastic scattering (ES) interactions. Due to the largest-ever mass of13C nuclei in the liquid scintillator detectors and the expected low background level,8B solar neutrinos are observable in the CC and NC interactions on13C for the first time. By virtue of optimized event selections and muon veto strategies, backgrounds from the accidental coincidence, muon-induced isotopes, and external backgrounds can be greatly suppressed. Excellent signal-to-background ratios can be achieved in the CC, NC, and ES channels to guarantee the observation of the8B solar neutrinos. From the sensitivity studies performed in this work, we show that JUNO, with 10 yr of data, can reach the 1σprecision levels of 5%, 8%, and 20% for the8B neutrino flux, sin 2 θ 12 , and Δ m 21 2 , respectively. Probing the details of both solar physics and neutrino physics would be unique and helpful. In addition, when combined with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory measurement, the world's best precision of 3% is expected for the measurement of the8B neutrino flux. 
    more » « less
  7. Abstract The core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is considered one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the supernova (SN) burst presents a unique opportunity for multi-messenger observations of CCSN events. In this study, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector currently under construction in South China.The real-time monitoring system is designed to ensure both prompt alert speed and comprehensive coverage of progenitor stars. It incorporates prompt monitors on the electronic board as well as online monitors at the data acquisition stage.Assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system exhibits sensitivity to pre-SN neutrinos up to a distance of approximately 1.6 (0.9) kiloparsecs and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kiloparsecs for a progenitor mass of 30 solar masses, considering both normal and inverted mass ordering scenarios.The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by analyzing the accumulated event anisotropy of inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos. This, along with the early alert, can play a crucial role in facilitating follow-up multi-messenger observations of the next galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN. 
    more » « less
  8. Abstract The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), the first multi-kton liquid scintillator detector, which is under construction in China, will have a unique potential to perform a real-time measurement of solar neutrinos well below the few MeV threshold typical of Water Cherenkov detectors. JUNO's large target mass and excellent energy resolution are prerequisites for reaching unprecedented levels of precision. In this paper, we provide estimation of the JUNO sensitivity to7Be,pep, and CNO solar neutrinos that can be obtained via a spectral analysis above the 0.45 MeV threshold. This study is performed assuming different scenarios of the liquid scintillator radiopurity, ranging from the most optimistic one corresponding to the radiopurity levels obtained by the Borexino experiment, up to the minimum requirements needed to perform the neutrino mass ordering determination with reactor antineutrinos — the main goal of JUNO. Our study shows that in most scenarios, JUNO will be able to improve the current best measurements on7Be,pep, and CNO solar neutrino fluxes. We also perform a study on the JUNO capability to detect periodical time variations in the solar neutrino flux, such as the day-night modulation induced by neutrino flavor regeneration in Earth, and the modulations induced by temperature changes driven by helioseismic waves. 
    more » « less