Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 141802 (2012)

In the standard model of particle physics there are three flavours of neutrino, and neutrinos are known to oscillate from one flavour to another. However, the field of neutrino research has thrown up certain data anomalies that could feasibly be explained in terms of the existence of a 'sterile' neutrino: one or more additional type of neutrino that doesn't take part in oscillations with its sibling particles.

Adriana Bungau and colleagues propose an accelerator-based experiment to address this issue. They envisage directing a 60 MeV proton beam from a compact cyclotron onto a cylindrical beryllium-9 target, to generate neutrons that are then thermally captured in a lithium-7 sleeve that surrounds the target. This creates lithium-8, which through beta decay-at-rest generates a substantial flux of electron antineutrinos — sufficient, in combination with some large-scale scintillator detector (such as KamLAND or SNO+), to test the hypothesis of one or more sterile neutrinos.

The antineutrino source could be built within five years, say the authors, and could also be used to test other aspects of the standard model.