JUNO Experiment: Advancing the Next Generation of Reactor Neutrino Research

by Hans Steiger

Thursday 30 Oct 2025, 09:30 → 10:30 Europe/Berlin

E18/ENE Seminar Room 3268 (TUM PH)

Since the discovery of neutrinos, nuclear reactors have played a major role in understanding neutrino physics, from the observation of neutrino oscillations with the precise measurement of $\Delta m_{21}$ and $\theta_{12}$, to the more recent breakthrough, the precise measurement of $\theta_{13}$ by the
Daya Bay, Double Chooz and RENO experiments.
With the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), reactor neutrino physics is entering a new era in terms of precision. Situated 52.5 km from two nuclear power plants within a newly established 700-meter-deep underground laboratory, JUNO aims to determine neutrinos mass ordering by precisely measuring the energy spectrum of reactor neutrinos. In addition, it will measure, with sub-percent precision, most of the neutrino oscillation parameters. Thanks to its excellent characteristics in terms of unprecedented energy resolution and target mass, the JUNO physics program comprises also solar neutrinos, atmospheric neutrinos, supernova neutrinos, and geoneutrinos, as well as beyond standard model physics topics such as the hunt for the proton decay.
In the present talk the newly commissioned JUNO experiment is introduced with a special emphasis on its role in current reactor neutrino physics and upcoming long-baseline neutrino oscillation programs. Furthermore, a brief overview is given on JUNO’s rich R&D programs running in parallel to the current data taking campaign.