We describe the Monte Carlo (MC) simulation of the Borexino detector and the agreement of its output with data. The Borexino MC “ab initio” simulates the energy loss of particles in all detector ...components and generates the resulting scintillation photons and their propagation within the liquid scintillator volume. The simulation accounts for absorption, reemission, and scattering of the optical photons and tracks them until they either are absorbed or reach the photocathode of one of the photomultiplier tubes. Photon detection is followed by a comprehensive simulation of the readout electronics response. The MC is tuned using data collected with radioactive calibration sources deployed inside and around the scintillator volume. The simulation reproduces the energy response of the detector, its uniformity within the fiducial scintillator volume relevant to neutrino physics, and the time distribution of detected photons to better than 1% between 100 keV and several MeV. The techniques developed to simulate the Borexino detector and their level of refinement are of possible interest to the neutrino community, especially for current and future large-volume liquid scintillator experiments such as Kamland–Zen, SNO+, and Juno.
Abstract
Cosmogenic radio-nuclei are an important source of background for low-energy neutrino experiments. In Borexino, cosmogenic
$$^{11}$$
11
C decays outnumber solar
pep
and CNO neutrino events ...by about ten to one. In order to extract the flux of these two neutrino species, a highly efficient identification of this background is mandatory. We present here the details of the most consolidated strategy, used throughout Borexino solar neutrino measurements. It hinges upon finding the space-time correlations between
$$^{11}$$
11
C decays, the preceding parent muons and the accompanying neutrons. This article describes the working principles and evaluates the performance of this Three-Fold Coincidence (TFC) technique in its two current implementations: a hard-cut and a likelihood-based approach. Both show stable performances throughout Borexino Phases II (2012–2016) and III (2016–2020) data sets, with a
$$^{11}$$
11
C tagging efficiency of
$$\sim 90$$
∼
90
% and
$$\sim $$
∼
63–66 % of the exposure surviving the tagging. We present also a novel technique that targets specifically
$$^{11}$$
11
C produced in high-multiplicity during major spallation events. Such
$$^{11}$$
11
C appear as a
burst
of events, whose space-time correlation can be exploited. Burst identification can be combined with the TFC to obtain about the same tagging efficiency of
$$\sim 90\%$$
∼
90
%
but with a higher fraction of the exposure surviving, in the range of
$$\sim $$
∼
66–68 %.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We have measured the flux of cosmic muons in the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso at 3800 m w.e. to be (3.432±0.003)ċ10−4 m−2s−1 based on ten years of Borexino data acquired between May 2007 and ...May 2017. A seasonal modulation with a period of (366.3±0.6) d and a relative amplitude of (1.36±0.04)% is observed. The phase is measured to be (181.7±0.4) d, corresponding to a maximum at the 1st of July. Using data inferred from global atmospheric models, we show the muon flux to be positively correlated with the atmospheric temperature and measure the effective temperature coefficient αT=0.90±0.02. The origin of cosmic muons from pion and kaon decays in the atmosphere allows to interpret the effective temperature coefficient as an indirect measurement of the atmospheric kaon-to-pion production ratio rK/π=0.11+0.11−0.07 for primary energies above 18 TeV. We find evidence for a long-term modulation of the muon flux with a period of ∼3000 d and a maximum in June 2012 that is not present in the atmospheric temperature data. A possible correlation between this modulation and the solar activity is investigated. The cosmogenic neutron production rate is found to show a seasonal modulation in phase with the cosmic muon flux but with an increased amplitude of (2.6±0.4)%.
A double-phase argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC), with an active mass of 185 g, has been designed and constructed for the Recoil Directionality (ReD) experiment. The aim of the ReD project is to ...investigate the directional sensitivity of argon-based TPCs via columnar recombination to nuclear recoils in the energy range of interest (20–
200
keV
nr
) for direct dark matter searches. The key novel feature of the ReD TPC is a readout system based on cryogenic Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs), which are employed and operated continuously for the first time in an argon TPC. Over the course of 6 months, the ReD TPC was commissioned and characterised under various operating conditions using
γ
-ray and neutron sources, demonstrating remarkable stability of the optical sensors and reproducibility of the results. The scintillation gain and ionisation amplification of the TPC were measured to be
g
1
=
(
0.194
±
0.013
)
photoelectrons/photon and
g
2
=
(
20.0
±
0.9
)
photoelectrons/electron, respectively. The ratio of the ionisation to scintillation signals (S2/S1), instrumental for the positive identification of a candidate directional signal induced by WIMPs, has been investigated for both nuclear and electron recoils. At a drift field of 183 V/cm, an S2/S1 dispersion of 12% was measured for nuclear recoils of approximately 60–
90
keV
nr
, as compared to 18% for electron recoils depositing 60 keV of energy. The detector performance reported here meets the requirements needed to achieve the principal scientific goals of the ReD experiment in the search for a directional effect due to columnar recombination. A phenomenological parameterisation of the recombination probability in LAr is presented and employed for modeling the dependence of scintillation quenching and charge yield on the drift field for electron recoils between 50–500 keV and fields up to 1000 V/cm.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of the supernovae that produced the heavy elements necessary for life, and whether protons eventually decay—these ...mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our universe, its current state, and its eventual fate. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions as it searches for leptonic charge-parity symmetry violation, stands ready to capture supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector technical design report (TDR) describes the DUNE physics program and the technical designs of the single- and dual-phase DUNE liquid argon TPC far detector modules. Volume III of this TDR describes how the activities required to design, construct, fabricate, install, and commission the DUNE far detector modules are organized and managed. This volume details the organizational structures that will carry out and/or oversee the planned far detector activities safely, successfully, on time, and on budget. It presents overviews of the facilities, supporting infrastructure, and detectors for context, and it outlines the project-related functions and methodologies used by the DUNE technical coordination organization, focusing on the areas of integration engineering, technical reviews, quality assurance and control, and safety oversight. Because of its more advanced stage of development, functional examples presented in this volume focus primarily on the single-phase (SP) detector module.
A Geant4-based Monte Carlo package named G4DS has been developed to simulate the response of DarkSide-50, an experiment operating since 2013 at LNGS, designed to detect WIMP interactions in liquid ...argon. In the process of WIMP searches, DarkSide-50 has achieved two fundamental milestones: the rejection of electron recoil background with a power of ∼107, using the pulse shape discrimination technique, and the measurement of the residual 39Ar contamination in underground argon, ∼3 orders of magnitude lower with respect to atmospheric argon. These results rely on the accurate simulation of the detector response to the liquid argon scintillation, its ionization, and electron-ion recombination processes. This work provides a complete overview of the DarkSide Monte Carlo and of its performance, with a particular focus on PARIS, the custom-made liquid argon response model.
Precision measurements of solar neutrinos emitted by specific nuclear reaction chains in the Sun are of great interest for developing an improved understanding of star formation and evolution. Given ...the expected neutrino fluxes and known detection reactions, such measurements require detectors capable of collecting neutrino-electron scattering data in exposures on the order of 1 ktonne-yr, with good energy resolution and extremely low background. Two-phase liquid argon time projection chambers (LAr TPCs) are under development for direct Dark Matter WIMP searches, which possess very large sensitive mass, high scintillation light yield, good energy resolution, and good spatial resolution in all three cartesian directions. While enabling Dark Matter searches with sensitivity extending to the ''neutrino floor'' (given by the rate of nuclear recoil events from solar neutrino coherent scattering), such detectors could also enable precision measurements of solar neutrino fluxes using the neutrino-electron elastic scattering events. Modeling results are presented for the cosmogenic and radiogenic backgrounds affecting solar neutrino detection in a 300 tonne (100 tonne fiducial) LAr TPC operating at LNGS depth (3,800 meters of water equivalent). The results show that such a detector could measure the CNO neutrino rate with ∼15% precision, and significantly improve the precision of the {sup 7}Be and pep neutrino rates compared to the currently available results from the Borexino organic liquid scintillator detector.
Coded masks for imaging of neutrino events Andreotti, M.; Bernardini, P.; Bersani, A. ...
European physical journal. C, Particles and fields,
11/2021, Letnik:
81, Številka:
11
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The capture of scintillation light emitted by liquid Argon and Xenon under molecular excitations by charged particles is still a challenging task. Here we present a first attempt to design a device ...able to have a sufficiently high photon detection efficiency, in order to reconstruct the path of ionizing particles. The study is based on the use of masks to encode the light signal combined with single-photon detectors, showing the capability to detect tracks over focal distances of about tens of centimeters. From numerical simulations it emerges that it is possible to successfully decode and recognize signals, even of rather complex topology, with a relatively limited number of acquisition channels. Thus, the main aim is to elucidate a proof of principle of a technology developed in very different contexts, but which has potential applications in liquid argon detectors that require a fast reading. The findings support us to think that such innovative technique could be very fruitful in a new generation of detectors devoted to neutrino physics.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The solar neutrino experiment Borexino, which is located in the Gran Sasso underground laboratories, is in a unique position to study muon-induced backgrounds in an organic liquid scintillator. In ...this study, a large sample of cosmic muons is identified and tracked by a muon veto detector external to the liquid scintillator, and by the specific light patterns observed when muons cross the scintillator volume. The yield of muon-induced neutrons is found to be Y sub(n) = (3.10 + or - 0.11) times 10 super(-4) sub(n)/( mu times (g/cm super(2))). The distance prole between the parent muon track and the neutron capture point has the average value lambda = (81.5 + or - 2.7) cm. Additionally the yields of a number of cosmogenic radioisotopes are measured for super(12)N, super(12)B, super(8)He, super(9)C, super(9)Li, super(8)B, super(6)He, super(8)Li, super(11)Be, super(10)C and super(11)C. All results are compared with Monte Carlo simulation predictions using the Fluka and GEANT4 packages. General agreement between data and simulation is observed for the cosmogenic production yields with a few exceptions, the most prominent case being super(11)C yield for which both codes return about 50% lower values. The predicted mu -n distance prole and the neutron multiplicity distribution are found to be overall consistent with data.
Abstract Cosmogenic radio-nuclei are an important source of background for low-energy neutrino experiments. In Borexino, cosmogenic $$^{11}$$ 11 C decays outnumber solar pep and CNO neutrino events ...by about ten to one. In order to extract the flux of these two neutrino species, a highly efficient identification of this background is mandatory. We present here the details of the most consolidated strategy, used throughout Borexino solar neutrino measurements. It hinges upon finding the space-time correlations between $$^{11}$$ 11 C decays, the preceding parent muons and the accompanying neutrons. This article describes the working principles and evaluates the performance of this Three-Fold Coincidence (TFC) technique in its two current implementations: a hard-cut and a likelihood-based approach. Both show stable performances throughout Borexino Phases II (2012–2016) and III (2016–2020) data sets, with a $$^{11}$$ 11 C tagging efficiency of $$\sim 90$$ ∼ 90 % and $$\sim $$ ∼ 63–66 % of the exposure surviving the tagging. We present also a novel technique that targets specifically $$^{11}$$ 11 C produced in high-multiplicity during major spallation events. Such $$^{11}$$ 11 C appear as a burst of events, whose space-time correlation can be exploited. Burst identification can be combined with the TFC to obtain about the same tagging efficiency of $$\sim 90\%$$ ∼ 90 % but with a higher fraction of the exposure surviving, in the range of $$\sim $$ ∼ 66–68 %.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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