Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering ($\mathrm{CE}\nu \mathrm{NS}$) can be used to determine the neutron part of nuclear form factors, unlocking intrinsic properties of nuclear structure. In contrast with other such methods, $\mathrm{CE}\nu \mathrm{NS}$ is free from both strong interaction effects and Coulomb distortions. We propose precision measurements of $\mathrm{CE}\nu \mathrm{NS}$ with an upcoming accelerator facility and determine the corresponding requirements for such a neutrino detector. We find that most significant backgrounds come from fast neutrons, induced by cosmogenic muons or from the pion decays at rest in the target station. With ton-scale liquid noble gas detectors, we will not only achieve percent-level precision in the measurement of neutron radii but also clarify contributions of higher-order moments to nuclear form factors.

• Received 18 January 2018
• Revised 4 April 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.113003