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 (alpha,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.
@article{arxiv.hep-ex/0404042,
title = {Neutron background in large-scale xenon detectors for dark matter searches},
author = {M. J. Carson and J. C. Davies and E. Daw and R. J. Hollingworth and V. A. Kudryavtsev and T. B. Lawson and P. K. Lightfoot and J. E. McMillan and B. Morgan and S. M. Paling and M. Robinson and N. J. C. Spooner and D. R. Tovey},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-ex/0404042},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
35 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics