Cosmogenic neutron production at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.100.112005

Cosmogenic neutron production at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Physics And Astronomy

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Abstract

Neutrons produced in nuclear interactions initiated by cosmic-ray muons present an irreducible background to many rare-event searches, even in detectors located deep underground. Models for the production of these neutrons have been tested against previous experimental data, but the extrapolation to deeper sites is not well understood. Here we report results from an analysis of cosmogenically produced neutrons at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. A specific set of observables are presented, which can be used to benchmark the validity of geant4 physics models. In addition, the cosmogenic neutron yield, in units of 10-4 cm2/(g·μ), is measured to be 7.28±0.09(stat)-1.12+1.59(syst) in pure heavy water and 7.30±0.07(stat)-1.02+1.40(syst) in NaCl-loaded heavy water. These results provide unique insights into this potential background source for experiments at SNOLAB.

Original language	English
Article number	112005
Journal	Physical Review D
Volume	100
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.100.112005
State	Published - Dec 12 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by: Canada: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Industry Canada, National Research Council, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., Ontario Power Generation, High Performance Computing Virtual Laboratory, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canada Research Chairs program, Breakthrough Prize Fund at Queen’s University; US: Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Physics, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration through the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium; UK: Science and Technology Facilities Council (formerly Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council); Portugal: Fundaçáo para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. We thank the SNO technical staff for their strong contributions. We thank INCO (now Vale, Ltd.) for hosting this project in their Creighton mine. This research used the Savio computational cluster resource provided by the Berkeley Research Computing program at the University of California, Berkeley (supported by the UC Berkeley Chancellor, Vice Chancellor for Research, and Chief Information Officer). The authors would like to thank John Beacom and Shirley Li for useful discussions.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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10.1103/PhysRevD.100.112005

Cite this

@article{ac104456d7664d88be3aca674ff47025,

title = "Cosmogenic neutron production at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory",

abstract = "Neutrons produced in nuclear interactions initiated by cosmic-ray muons present an irreducible background to many rare-event searches, even in detectors located deep underground. Models for the production of these neutrons have been tested against previous experimental data, but the extrapolation to deeper sites is not well understood. Here we report results from an analysis of cosmogenically produced neutrons at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. A specific set of observables are presented, which can be used to benchmark the validity of geant4 physics models. In addition, the cosmogenic neutron yield, in units of 10-4 cm2/(g·μ), is measured to be 7.28±0.09(stat)-1.12+1.59(syst) in pure heavy water and 7.30±0.07(stat)-1.02+1.40(syst) in NaCl-loaded heavy water. These results provide unique insights into this potential background source for experiments at SNOLAB.",

author = "B. Aharmim and Ahmed, {S. N.} and Anthony, {A. E.} and N. Barros and Beier, {E. W.} and A. Bellerive and B. Beltran and M. Bergevin and Biller, {S. D.} and R. Bonventre and K. Boudjemline and Boulay, {M. G.} and B. Cai and Callaghan, {E. J.} and J. Caravaca and Chan, {Y. D.} and D. Chauhan and M. Chen and Cleveland, {B. T.} and Cox, {G. A.} and R. Curley and X. Dai and H. Deng and Descamps, {F. B.} and Detwiler, {J. A.} and Doe, {P. J.} and G. Doucas and Drouin, {P. L.} and M. Dunford and Elliott, {S. R.} and Evans, {H. C.} and Ewan, {G. T.} and J. Farine and H. Fergani and F. Fleurot and Ford, {R. J.} and Formaggio, {J. A.} and N. Gagnon and K. Gilje and Goon, {J. T.M.} and K. Graham and E. Guillian and S. Habib and Hahn, {R. L.} and Hallin, {A. L.} and Hallman, {E. D.} and Harvey, {P. J.} and R. Hazama and Heintzelman, {W. J.} and R. MacLellan",

note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by: Canada: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Industry Canada, National Research Council, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., Ontario Power Generation, High Performance Computing Virtual Laboratory, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canada Research Chairs program, Breakthrough Prize Fund at Queen{\textquoteright}s University; US: Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Physics, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration through the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium; UK: Science and Technology Facilities Council (formerly Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council); Portugal: Funda{\c c}{\'a}o para a Ci{\^e}ncia e a Tecnologia. We thank the SNO technical staff for their strong contributions. We thank INCO (now Vale, Ltd.) for hosting this project in their Creighton mine. This research used the Savio computational cluster resource provided by the Berkeley Research Computing program at the University of California, Berkeley (supported by the UC Berkeley Chancellor, Vice Chancellor for Research, and Chief Information Officer). The authors would like to thank John Beacom and Shirley Li for useful discussions. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the {"}https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/{"} Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.",

year = "2019",

month = dec,

day = "12",

doi = "10.1103/PhysRevD.100.112005",

language = "English",

volume = "100",

number = "11",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Cosmogenic neutron production at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

AU - Aharmim, B.

AU - Ahmed, S. N.

AU - Anthony, A. E.

AU - Barros, N.

AU - Beier, E. W.

AU - Bellerive, A.

AU - Beltran, B.

AU - Bergevin, M.

AU - Biller, S. D.

AU - Bonventre, R.

AU - Boudjemline, K.

AU - Boulay, M. G.

AU - Cai, B.

AU - Callaghan, E. J.

AU - Caravaca, J.

AU - Chan, Y. D.

AU - Chauhan, D.

AU - Chen, M.

AU - Cleveland, B. T.

AU - Cox, G. A.

AU - Curley, R.

AU - Dai, X.

AU - Deng, H.

AU - Descamps, F. B.

AU - Detwiler, J. A.

AU - Doe, P. J.

AU - Doucas, G.

AU - Drouin, P. L.

AU - Dunford, M.

AU - Elliott, S. R.

AU - Evans, H. C.

AU - Ewan, G. T.

AU - Farine, J.

AU - Fergani, H.

AU - Fleurot, F.

AU - Ford, R. J.

AU - Formaggio, J. A.

AU - Gagnon, N.

AU - Gilje, K.

AU - Goon, J. T.M.

AU - Graham, K.

AU - Guillian, E.

AU - Habib, S.

AU - Hahn, R. L.

AU - Hallin, A. L.

AU - Hallman, E. D.

AU - Harvey, P. J.

AU - Hazama, R.

AU - Heintzelman, W. J.

AU - MacLellan, R.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by: Canada: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Industry Canada, National Research Council, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., Ontario Power Generation, High Performance Computing Virtual Laboratory, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canada Research Chairs program, Breakthrough Prize Fund at Queen’s University; US: Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Physics, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration through the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium; UK: Science and Technology Facilities Council (formerly Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council); Portugal: Fundaçáo para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. We thank the SNO technical staff for their strong contributions. We thank INCO (now Vale, Ltd.) for hosting this project in their Creighton mine. This research used the Savio computational cluster resource provided by the Berkeley Research Computing program at the University of California, Berkeley (supported by the UC Berkeley Chancellor, Vice Chancellor for Research, and Chief Information Officer). The authors would like to thank John Beacom and Shirley Li for useful discussions. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

PY - 2019/12/12

Y1 - 2019/12/12

N2 - Neutrons produced in nuclear interactions initiated by cosmic-ray muons present an irreducible background to many rare-event searches, even in detectors located deep underground. Models for the production of these neutrons have been tested against previous experimental data, but the extrapolation to deeper sites is not well understood. Here we report results from an analysis of cosmogenically produced neutrons at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. A specific set of observables are presented, which can be used to benchmark the validity of geant4 physics models. In addition, the cosmogenic neutron yield, in units of 10-4 cm2/(g·μ), is measured to be 7.28±0.09(stat)-1.12+1.59(syst) in pure heavy water and 7.30±0.07(stat)-1.02+1.40(syst) in NaCl-loaded heavy water. These results provide unique insights into this potential background source for experiments at SNOLAB.

AB - Neutrons produced in nuclear interactions initiated by cosmic-ray muons present an irreducible background to many rare-event searches, even in detectors located deep underground. Models for the production of these neutrons have been tested against previous experimental data, but the extrapolation to deeper sites is not well understood. Here we report results from an analysis of cosmogenically produced neutrons at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. A specific set of observables are presented, which can be used to benchmark the validity of geant4 physics models. In addition, the cosmogenic neutron yield, in units of 10-4 cm2/(g·μ), is measured to be 7.28±0.09(stat)-1.12+1.59(syst) in pure heavy water and 7.30±0.07(stat)-1.02+1.40(syst) in NaCl-loaded heavy water. These results provide unique insights into this potential background source for experiments at SNOLAB.

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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.100.112005

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.100.112005

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85076507370

VL - 100

IS - 11

M1 - 112005

ER -

Cosmogenic neutron production at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Abstract

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ASJC Scopus subject areas

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