10–12 Apr 2013
INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso
Europe/Rome timezone

Measurement and modeling of muon-induced neutrons in LSM in application for direct Dark Matter searches

11 Apr 2013, 15:00
1h 20m
E. Fermi auditorium (INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso)

E. Fermi auditorium

INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso

SS 17 bis, km 18 + 910, 67100 Assergi (AQ), Italy
poster Background studies, models, and simulations Poster session

Speaker

Dr Valentin Kozlov (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

Description

Due to a very low event rate expected in direct Dark Matter search experiments, a good understanding of every background component is crucial. Muon-induced neutrons constitute a prominent background, since neutrons lead to nuclear recoils and thus can mimic a potential Dark Matter signal. Edelweiss is a Ge-bolometer experiment searching for WIMP dark matter. It is located in the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM, France). We have measured muon-induced neutrons by means of a neutron counter based on Gd-loaded liquid scintillator. Studies of muon-induced neutrons will be presented and include development of the appropriate MC model based on GEANT4 and analysis of a 1000-days measurement campaign in LSM. We find a good agreement between measured rates of muon-induced neutrons and those predicted by the developed model with full event topology. The impact of the neutron background on current Edelweiss data-taking as well as for next generation experiments such as EURECA will be discussed. This work is supported in part by the German ministry of science and education (BMBF Verbundforschung ATP Proj.-Nr. 05A11VK2) and by the Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Phyics (HAP) funded by the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association.

Primary author

Dr Valentin Kozlov (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

Presentation materials