Final results on the neutrino magnetic moment from the MUNU experiment

The MUNU detector was designed to study (upsilon) over bar (e)e(-) elastic scattering at low energy. The central component is a Time Projection Chamber filled with CF4 gas, surrounded by an anti-Compton detector. The experiment was carried out at the Bugey (France) nuclear reactor. In this Letter we present the final analysis of the data recorded at 3 bar and 1 bar pressure. Both the energy and the scattering angle of the recoil electron are measured. From the 3 bar data a new upper limit on the neutrino magnetic moment mu(short)(e) < 9 x 10(-11) mu(B) at 90% CL was derived. At 1 bar electron tracks down to 150 keV were reconstructed, demonstrating the potentiality of the experimental technique for future applications in low energy neutrino physics. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.