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Observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering by COHERENT

I will summarize the first observation of the neutrino-nucleus scattering process that is seen as a fundamental background to the current searches for dark matter in underground experiments.

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) is a process in which a neutrino scatters off an entire nucleus and for which the
observable signature is a tiny nuclear recoil.  It represents a background for direct dark matter detection experiments, as well as a
possible signal for neutrinos from the Sun and supernovae. Furthermore, because the process is cleanly predicted in the Standard
Model of particle physics, a measurement is sensitive to beyond-the-Standard-Model physics.  The process was first predicted in
1973.  It was measured for the first time by the COHERENT collaboration using the unique, high-quality source of
neutrinos from the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a cesium iodide crystal scintillator detector.
This talk will describe COHERENT's recent measurement of CEvNS, the status and plans of COHERENT's suite of detectors at the SNS, and
future physics reach.