Related papers: Neutron- and muon-induced background in undergroun…
Neutron oscillation into mirror neutron, a sterile state exactly degenerate in mass with the neutron, could be a very rapid process, even faster than the neutron decay itself. It can be observed by comparing the neutron lose rates in an…
A quantitative study of the neutron environment in the Canfranc Underground Laboratory has been performed. The analysis is based on a complete set of simulations and, particularly, it is focused on the IGEX-DM dark matter experiment. The…
This article gives a point of view on the studies of the muon-induced background for the underground experiments using a liquid scintillator detectors. The results obtained are in good agreement with the data, especially for the neutron…
Cosmic muon induced neutrons are a major source of background for low countrate experiments like neutrino oscillation or dark matter searches. Especially at shallow sites these neutrons are the limiting factor for the ultimate sensitivity…
We report a novel correlated background in the antineutrino detection using the inverse beta decay reaction. Spontaneous fissions and $(\alpha,n)$ reactions in peripheral materials of the antineutrino detector, such as borosilicate glass of…
Measuring external sources of background for a deep underground laboratory at the Homestake Mine is an important step for the planned low-background experiments. The naturally occurring $\gamma$-ray fluxes at different levels in the…
While cosmic ray muons themselves are relatively easy to veto in underground detectors, their interactions with nuclei create more insidious backgrounds via: (i) the decays of long-lived isotopes produced by muon-induced spallation…
The neutron background at the underground laboratory at Boulby - a site for several dark matter experiments - is discussed. Special emphasis is put on the neutron background produced by cosmic-ray muons. The most recent versions of the muon…
Neutron production induced by ($\alpha$,n) reactions is important in various scenarios. One of the most relevant ones is related to underground dark matter experiments, where the neutrons produced by the $\alpha$-decay from radioactive…
A natural neutron flux is one of significant kind of background in high-sensitive underground experiments. Therefore, when scheduling a delicate underground measurements one needs to measure neutron background. Deep underground the most…
Research reactors host a wide range of activities that make use of the intense neutron fluxes generated at these facilities. Recent interest in performing measurements with relatively low event rates, e.g. reactor antineutrino detection, at…
Several non-threshold reactions which may be used to detect the cosmic neutrino background are presented. The corresponding cross sections are calculated analytically within the Standard Model. These reactions are sensitive not only to the…
The existence of a cosmic neutrino background -- the analogue of the cosmic microwave background -- is a fundamental prediction of standard big bang cosmology. Up to now, the observational evidence for its existence is rather indirect and…
This article describes the Monte Carlo simulation used to interpret the measurement of the muon-induced neutron flux in the Boulby Underground Laboratory (North Yorkshire, UK), recently performed using a large scintillator veto deployed…
The production of neutrons by cosmic-ray muons at large depths underground is discussed. The most recent versions of the muon propagation code MUSIC, and particle transport code FLUKA are used to evaluate muon and neutron fluxes. The…
Next generation low-background experiments require a detailed understanding of all possible radiation backgrounds. One important radiation source are muon-induced neutrons. Their production processes are up to now not fully understood. New…
Quantum Monte Carlo methods have proved very valuable to study the structure and reactions of light nuclei and nucleonic matter starting from realistic nuclear interactions and currents. These ab-initio calculations reproduce many low-lying…
The XENON100 experiment, installed underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), aims to directly detect dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) via their elastic scattering off xenon nuclei.…
Many experiments seek dark matter by detecting relatively low energy nuclear recoils. Yet since events from ordinary physics with energies in the 1-100 KeV range are commonplace, all claims of signals or their absence hinge on exhaustive…
In deep underground laboratories, environmental neutrons, which are produced at the cavern walls, introduce a source of background to rare event searches. The flux and spectrum of the ambient neutrons vary considerably with time and…