Deep underground neutron flux measurement with large BF3 counters

Belli, P.; Bernabei, R.; d’Angelo, S.; Pascale, M. P. De; Paoluzi, L.; Santonico, R.; Taborgna, N.; Iucci, N.; Villoresi, G.

doi:10.1007/bf02800162

Cited by 147 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…[4] and are in accordance with the measurement presented in Ref. [6]. The contamination of the PE and the lead has been measured at the chemical laboratory of the LNGS, resulting in an upper limit of 0.2 ppb of U and Th for lead and a contamination of 0.5 ppb U and 1.3 ppb Th in the PE.…”

Section: Setup Of the Simulationsupporting

confidence: 86%

Neutron background simulation for the CRESST–II experiment

Scholl

Jochum

2012

J. Phys.: Conf. Ser.

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Abstract. The CRESST collaboration reported an excess signal in their latest physics run. After removal of expected electromagnetic background, low energy αs and degraded lead recoils from the signal region, a mean value of 35.4 excess events remain. In this work, we investigate if neutron induced nuclear recoils can explain the reported excess. Three results are found: The total event rate in the simulation of 2.04 +0.23 −0.15 × 10 −3 cts / kgd is much lower than the one inferred from the remaining excess events of 4.85 × 10 −2 cts / kgd in the experimental data. Additionally, the dominance of oxygen recoils (∼ 90 %) predicted by the simulation is in disagreement with the favored experimental lightyield distribution of the excess signal. Furthermore, the experimentally observed fraction of higher multiplicities is only half of the ∼ 20 % obtained by the simulation. Especially the experimental absence of double detector hits in the presence of higher multiplicities is in clear contradiction to the results of the simulation. In combination, these three discrepancies between the experimental and the simulated background allows the conclusion that the observed excess signal cannot be explained by neutron induced nuclear recoils alone.

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Section: Setup Of the Simulationsupporting

confidence: 86%

Neutron background simulation for the CRESST–II experiment

Scholl

Jochum

2012

J. Phys.: Conf. Ser.

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“…Here again the authors used the deconvolution of the measured spectrum of proton recoils and no simulation of the neutron propagation through the detector shielding was performed. No distinctive peaks have been reported for either of the measurements in the Gran Sasso Laboratory above 1 MeV [21,22], although the evaluated spectra appear to be harder than the spectrum from our simulations.…”

Section: Neutrons From Rockcontrasting

confidence: 48%

“…The uncertainties associated with the calculations of such probabilities were not negligible, however. The differences as large as (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)% exist between different calculations of the transition probabilities in the SOURCES library. If the excited levels were not in the code library, as was the case for elements for which the cross-sections were absent too, then in adding the cross-section we assumed that the transition was occuring to the ground state only.…”

Section: Neutron Production By Radioactive Isotopesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutron background in large-scale xenon detectors for dark matter searches

CARSON¹

2004

Astroparticle Physics

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Simulations of the neutron background for future large-scale particle dark matter detectors are presented. Neutrons were generated in rock and detector elements via spontaneous fission and (α,n) reactions, and by cosmic-ray muons. The simulation techniques and results are discussed in the context of the expected sensitivity of a generic liquid xenon dark matter detector. Methods of neutron background suppression are investigated. A sensitivity of 10 −9 − 10 −10 pb to WIMP-nucleon interactions can be achieved by a tonne-scale detector.

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“…The natural radioactivity in rock and materials used for the internal structures of the LNGS has been studied in detail [2,3], and the specific activities of natural radionuclides are known with high accuracy for the characterization of neutron background at the LNGS [3]. Moreover, numerical simulations [1] and neutron flux measurements were carried out inside the LNGS [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Nevertheless, the contribution of the natural radioactivity in the ground water and its spatial-temporal variations induced by the water-rock interaction and the hydrological properties of the Gran Sasso aquifer have never been considered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These measurements have shown the existence of different chemical-physical and fluid dynamical characteristics in the ground water. The measurements of the neutron flux [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] and the numerical simulations [1] have been performed in time intervals not exceeding the temporal and spatial variations of environmental radioactivity detected by ERMES [14][15][16]. Radon (Rn) as a possible candidate for earthquake precursor has been studied for a long time, but there is no clear evidence that it is really a precursor [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uranium groundwater anomalies at LNGS: From the neutron flux background to the geodynamic processes

Plastino

Laubenstein

Aprili

et al. 2012

EPJ Web of Conferences

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Monitoring of chemical and physical groundwater parameters has been carried out worldwide in seismogenic areas with the aim to test possible correlations between their spatial and temporal variations and strain processes. It is shown in this paper that uranium groundwater anomalies, which were observed in cataclastic rocks crossing the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), can be used as a possible strain meter in domains where continental lithosphere is subducted. Moreover, whereas at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory only the natural radioactivity in the rock, the concrete, as well as the induced part coming from interaction of cosmic ray muons with the rock or the detector materials itself were considered as possible sources for the neutron flux background, the water-rock interaction and its spatial-temporal variation induced by the hydrological pattern of the Gran Sasso aquifer must be taken into account. Water must be considered not only as moderator in concrete, but also as additional source for neutron flux modulation due to its variable concentration and its radioactivity. EPJ Web of Conferences

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Deep underground neutron flux measurement with large BF3 counters

Cited by 147 publications

References 1 publication

Neutron background simulation for the CRESST–II experiment

Neutron background simulation for the CRESST–II experiment

Neutron background in large-scale xenon detectors for dark matter searches

Uranium groundwater anomalies at LNGS: From the neutron flux background to the geodynamic processes

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