Fast neutron background characterization of the future Ricochet experiment at the ILL research nuclear reactor
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: The future Ricochet experiment aims at searching for new physics in the electroweak sector by providing a high precision measurement of the Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CENNS) process down to the sub-100 eV nuclear recoil energy range. The experiment will deploy a kg-scale low-energy-threshold detector array combining Ge and Zn target crystals 8.8 m away from the 58 MW research nuclear reactor core of the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France. Currently, the Ricochet Collaboration is characterizing the backgrounds at its future experimental site in order to optimize the experiment’s shielding design. The most threatening background component, which cannot be actively rejected by particle identification, consists of keV-scale neutron-induced nuclear recoils. These initial fast neutrons are generated by the reactor core and surrounding experiments (reactogenics), and by the cosmic rays producing primary neutrons and muon-induced neutrons in the surrounding materials. In this paper, we present the Ricochet neutron background characterization using $$^3$$ 3 He proportional counters which exhibit a high sensitivity to thermal, epithermal and fast neutrons. We compare these measurements to the Ricochet Geant4 simulations to validate our reactogenic and cosmogenic neutron background estimations. Eventually, we present our estimated neutron background for the future Ricochet experiment and the resulting CENNS detection significance. Our results show that depending on the effectiveness of the muon veto, we expect a total nuclear recoil background rate between 44 ± 3 and 9 ± 2 events/day/kg in the CENNS region of interest, i.e. between 50 eV and 1 keV. We therefore found that the Ricochet experiment should reach a statistical significance of 4.6 to 13.6 $$\sigma $$ σ for the detection of CENNS after one reactor cycle, when only the limiting neutron background is considered.
Source: The European Physical Journal C
Authors: C. Augier, G. Baulieu, V. Belov, L. Berge, J. Billard, G. Bres, J-. L. Bret, A. Broniatowski, M. Calvo, A. Cazes, D. Chaize, M. Chapellier, L. Chaplinsky, G. Chemin, R. Chen, J. Colas, M. De Jesus, P. de Marcillac, L. Dumoulin, O. Exshaw, S. Ferriol, E. Figueroa-Feliciano, J. -B. Filippini, J. A. Formaggio, S. Fuard, J. Gascon, A. Giuliani, J. Goupy, C. Goy, C. Guerin, E. Guy, P. Harrington, S. T. Heine, S. A. Hertel, M. Heusch, C. F. Hirjibehedin, Z. Hong, J.-C. Ianigro, Y. Jin, J. P. Johnston, A. Juillard, D. Karaivanov, S. Kazarcev, J. Lamblin, H. Lattaud, M. Li, A. Lubashevskiy, S. Marnieros, D. W. Mayer, J. Minet, D. Misiak, J-.L. Mocellin, A. Monfardini, F. Mounier, W. D. Oliver, E. Olivieri, C. Oriol, P. K. Patel, E. Perbet, H. D. Pinckney, D. Poda, D. Ponomarev, F. Rarbi, J.-S. Real, T. Redon, A. Robert, S. Rozov, I. Rozova, T. Salagnac, V. Sanglard, B. Schmidt, Ye. Shevchik, V. Sibille, T. Soldner, J. Stachurska, A. Stutz, L. Vagneron, W. Van De Pontseele, F. Vezzu, S. Weber, L. Winslow, E. Yakushev, D. Zinatulina
Institutions: Lyon 1 Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, Institut de Physique des 2 Infinis de Lyon, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Université Paris-Saclay, Laboratoire de Physique des 2 Infinis Irène Joliot-Curie, Institut polytechnique de Grenoble, Institut Néel, Université Grenoble Alpes, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Northwestern University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institut Laue-Langevin, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, University of Toronto, Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies
Language: English
Topic: Neutrino Physics Research
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Awards: G1442762276, G2142869123, G3010451506, G4163689300, G434337789, Low-Threshold Modular Detectors for Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering, QUANTUM DEVICES FOR NEUTRINO AND RARE PARTICLE DETECTION, Searching for new physics with the future Ricochet experiment, G7240651115, Lyon Institute of Origins
OpenAlex ID: W4293568286