Speaker
Ms
Lea Reichhart
(University of Edinburgh)
Description
Rare signal searches, such as those performed for direct dark matter detection and neutrinoless double beta decay experiments, are typically carried out in deep underground laboratories, with the consequence that the rock over-burden of such facilities dramatically reduces many of the background signals that would be present if the experiments were conducted in surface laboratories. As improved sensitivity is achieved, the need to characterise and mitigate remaining backgrounds becomes ever more important. One of the most problematic backgrounds that still remains is that of cosmic-ray muon-induced neutrons with the potential of becoming a limiting factor for next generation rare event searches.
A measurement will be presented of the neutron production rate in lead by high-energy cosmic-ray muons of mean energy of 260 GeV at a depth of 2850 m water equivalent. The measurement exploits the delayed coincidences between muons and the radiative capture of induced neutrons in a highly segmented tonne-scale plastic scintillator detector. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations reproduce well the measured capture times and multiplicities and, within the dynamic range of the instrumentation, the spectrum of energy deposits. By comparing measurements with simulations of neutron capture rates a neutron yield in lead has been obtained.
Primary author
Ms
Lea Reichhart
(University of Edinburgh)
Co-authors
Alastair Currie
(Imperial College London)
Alexander Burenkov
(Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow)
Alexander Kobyakin
(Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow)
Alexander Murphy
(University of Edinburgh)
Alexandre Lindote
(LIP-Coimbra & University of Coimbra)
Alexey Kovalenko
(Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow)
Anthony Hollingsworth
(University of Edinburgh)
Arthur Bewick
(Imperial College London)
Blair Edwards
(STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Chamkaur Ghag
(University of Edinburgh)
Claire Thorne
(Imperial College London)
Claudio Silva
(LIP-Coimbra & University of Coimbra)
Dimitri Akimov
(Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow)
Emma Barnes
(University of Edinburgh)
Francisco Neves
(LIP-Coimbra & University of Coimbra)
George Kalmus
(STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Henrique Araújo
(Imperial College London)
Isabel Lopes
(LIP-Coimbra & University of Coimbra)
John Quenby
(Imperial College London)
Jose Pinto da Cunha
(LIP-Coimbra & University of Coimbra)
Luiz DeViveiros
(LIP-Coimbra & University of Coimbra)
Markus Horn
(Imperial College London)
Nigel Smith
(STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Paul Scovell
(University of Edinburgh)
Pawel Majewski
(STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Richard Walker
(Imperial College London)
Roland Lüscher
(STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Roy Preece
(STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Sean Paling
(STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Smith Peter
(STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Tim Sumner
(Imperial College London)
Victor Stekhanov
(Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow)
Vishal Francis
(STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Vitaly Chepel
(LIP-Coimbra & University of Coimbra)
Vitaly Kudryavtsev
(University of Sheffield)
Vladimir Belov
(Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow)
Vladimir Solovov
(LIP-Coimbra & University of Coimbra)
