Randomized trial reports improved limits on neutrino properties in the CONUS dataset, indicating significant findings in particle physics.
Its detections with pion-decay-at-rest, solar and recently with reactor antineutrinos by the CONUS collaboration render coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) an established tool for investigations within and beyond the Standard Model (SM). The CONUS experiment located at the nuclear power plants in Brokdorf (Germany) and Leibstadt (Switzerland) operates Germanium semiconductor detectors in a compact shield at close distance to the reactor core. An observation with $3.7 σ$ significance is reported at the Leibstadt site, showing good agreement with its SM prediction. Physics investigations performed with the last datasets collected at the Brokdorf reactor and with the first data obtained at the Leibstadt site are summarized. By using the experimental analysis framework, the presented results contain the full systematics that underlie the experiment. Previously determined limits with neutrino-electron scattering on the neutrino magnetic moment and a neutrino millicharge are improved to μ_ν <5.18· 10⁻¹¹μB and q_ν<1.76· 10⁻¹² e₀ (90% C.L). Further, the scale of new physics related to NSIs is improved to ΛNSI=145 GeV and limits on the coupling of light new mediators are lowered down to 4 · 10⁻⁷ (90% C.L.) with the new data. Finally, the determination of the Weinberg angle with CE$ν$NS and reactor antineutrinos yields sin²θW= 0.28+0.03-0.04 at a momentum transfer of ~ 10 \ MeV.
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Ackermann et al. (2026) studied this question.
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