---
abstract: 'The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment discovered an unexpectedly large neutrino oscillation related to the mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ in 2012. This finding paved the way to the next generation of neutrino oscillation experiments. In this article, we review the history, featured design, and scientific results of Daya Bay. Prospects of the experiment are also described.'
address:
- 'Institute of High Energy Physics, Beijing, China'
- 'Department of Physics, University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA'
author:
- Jun Cao
- 'Kam-Biu Luk'
title: An overview of the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment
---

neutrino oscillation ,neutrino mixing ,reactor ,Daya Bay 14.60.Pq ,29.40.Mc ,28.50.Hw ,13.15.+g

Introduction
============

Neutrino oscillation was firmly established by 2002. Around that time, atmospheric and accelerator neutrino experiments, e.g. Super-K [@superk] and K2K [@k2k], have determined the oscillation parameters $\theta_{23}$ and $|\Delta m^2_{32}|$ whereas solar and reactor neutrino experiments, such as SNO [@sno] and KamLAND [@kamland], measured $\theta_{12}$ and $\Delta m^2_{21}$. However, the mixing angle $\theta_{13}$, the CP violating phase $\delta_{\rm CP}$, and the sign of $\Delta m^2_{32}$ (aka the mass hierarchy) were unknown. In addition, $\theta_{13}$, unlike the other two mixing angles, was expected to be small [@chooz; @paloverde].

Among 