Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering: Terrestrial and astrophysical applications

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS) is a process in which neutrinos scatter on a nucleus which acts as a single particle. Though the total cross section is large by neutrino standards, CEνNS has long proven difficult to detect, since the deposited energy into the nucleus is ∼ keV. In 2017, the COHERENT collaboration announced the detection of CEνNS using a stopped-pion source with CsI detectors, followed up the detection of CEνNS using an Ar target. The detection of CEνNS has spawned a flurry of activities in high-energy physics, inspiring new constraints on beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, and new experimental methods. The CEνNS process has important implications for not only high-energy physics, but also astrophysics, nuclear physics, and beyond. This whitepaper discusses the scientific importance of CEνNS, highlighting how present experiments such as COHERENT are informing theory, and also how future experiments will provide a wealth of information across the aforementioned fields of physics.