English

Muon capture on light isotopes in Double Chooz

Nuclear Experiment 2016-05-18 v2 High Energy Physics - Experiment Instrumentation and Detectors

Abstract

Using the Double Chooz detector, designed to measure the neutrino mixing angle θ13\theta_{13}, the products of μ\mu^- capture on 12^{12}C, 13^{13}C, 14^{14}N and 16^{16}O have been measured. Over a period of 489.5 days, 2.3×1062.3\times10^6 stopping cosmic μ\mu^- have been collected, of which 1.8×1051.8\times10^5 captured on carbon, nitrogen, or oxygen nuclei in the inner detector scintillator or acrylic vessels. The resulting isotopes were tagged using prompt neutron emission (when applicable), the subsequent beta decays, and, in some cases, β\beta-delayed neutrons. The most precise measurement of the rate of 12C(μ,ν)12B^{12}\mathrm C(\mu^-,\nu)^{12}\mathrm B to date is reported: 6.570.21+0.11×103s16.57^{+0.11}_{-0.21}\times10^{3}\,\mathrm s^{-1}, or (17.350.59+0.35)%(17.35^{+0.35}_{-0.59})\% of nuclear captures. By tagging excited states emitting gammas, the ground state transition rate to 12^{12}B has been determined to be 5.680.23+0.14×103s15.68^{+0.14}_{-0.23}\times10^3\,\mathrm s^{-1}. The heretofore unobserved reactions 12C(μ,να)8Li^{12}\mathrm C(\mu^-,\nu\alpha)^{8}\mathrm{Li}, 13C(μ,νnα)8Li^{13}\mathrm C(\mu^-,\nu\mathrm n\alpha)^{8}\mathrm{Li}, and 13C(μ,νn)12B^{13}\mathrm C(\mu^-,\nu\mathrm n)^{12}\mathrm B are measured. Further, a population of β\betan decays following stopping muons is identified with 5.5σ5.5\sigma significance. Statistics limit our ability to identify these decays definitively. Assuming negligible production of 8^{8}He, the reaction 13C(μ,να)9Li^{13}\mathrm C(\mu^-,\nu\alpha)^{9}\mathrm{Li} is found to be present at the 2.7σ2.7\sigma level. Limits are set on a variety of other processes.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1512.07562,
  title  = {Muon capture on light isotopes in Double Chooz},
  author = {Double Chooz collaboration and Y. Abe and T. Abrahão and H. Almazan and C. Alt and S. Appel and J. C. Barriere and E. Baussan and I. Bekman and M. Bergevin and T. J. C. Bezerra and L. Bezrukov and E. Blucher and T. Brugière and C. Buck and J. Busenitz and A. Cabrera and L. Camilleri and R. Carr and M. Cerrada and E. Chauveau and P. Chimenti and A. P. Collin and E. Conover and J. M. Conrad and J. I. Crespo-Anadón and K. Crum and A. S. Cucoanes and E. Damon and J. V. Dawson and H. de Kerret and J. Dhooghe and D. Dietrich and Z. Djurcic and J. C. dos Anjos and M. Dracos and A. Etenko and M. Fallot and J. Felde and S. M. Fernandes and V. Fischer and D. Franco and M. Franke and H. Furuta and I. Gil-Botella and L. Giot and M. Göger-Neff and H. Gomez and L. F. G. Gonzalez and L. Goodenough and M. C. Goodman and N. Haag and T. Hara and J. Haser and D. Hellwig and M. Hofmann and G. A. Horton-Smith and A. Hourlier and M. Ishitsuka and J. Jochum and C. Jollet and F. Kaether and L. N. Kalousis and Y. Kamyshkov and M. Kaneda and D. M. Kaplan and T. Kawasaki and E. Kemp and D. Kryn and M. Kuze and T. Lachenmaier and C. E. Lane and T. Lasserre and A. Letourneau and D. Lhuillier and H. P. Lima and M. Lindner and J. M. López-Castaño and J. M. LoSecco and B. Lubsandorzhiev and S. Lucht and J. Maeda and C. Mariani and J. Maricic and J. Martino and T. Matsubara and G. Mention and A. Meregaglia and T. Miletic and R. Milincic and A. Minotti and Y. Nagasaka and D. Navas-Nicolás and P. Novella and L. Oberauer and M. Obolensky and A. Onillon and A. Osborn and C. Palomares and I. M. Pepe and S. Perasso and A. Porta and G. Pronost and J. Reichenbacher and B. Reinhold and M. Röhling and R. Roncin and B. Rybolt and Y. Sakamoto and R. Santorelli and A. C. Schilithz and S. Schönert and S. Schoppmann and M. H. Shaevitz and R. Sharankova and D. Shrestha and V. Sibille and V. Sinev and M. Skorokhvatov and E. Smith and M. Soiron and J. Spitz and A. Stahl and I. Stancu and L. F. F. Stokes and M. Strait and F. Suekane and S. Sukhotin and T. Sumiyoshi and Y. Sun and R. Svoboda and K. Terao and A. Tonazzo and H. H. Trinh Thi and G. Valdiviesso and N. Vassilopoulos and C. Veyssiere and M. Vivier and F. von Feilitzsch and S. Wagner and N. Walsh and H. Watanabe and C. Wiebusch and M. Wurm and G. Yang and F. Yermia and V. Zimmer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.07562},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

21 pages, 14 figures. Minor revisions. Corresponding author: M. Strait