Abstract
Borexino is a large-volume organic liquid scintillator detector of unprecedented high radiopurity which has been designed for low-energy neutrino spectroscopy in real time. Besides the main objective of the experiment, the measurement of the solar {sup 7}Be neutrino flux, Borexino also aims at detecting solar neutrinos from the pep fusion process and from the CNO cycle. The detectability of these neutrinos is strictly connected to a successful rejection of all relevant background components. The identification and reduction of these background signals is the central subject of this dissertation. In the first part, contaminants induced by cosmic-ray muons and muon showers were analyzed. The dominant background is the cosmogenic radioisotope {sup 11}C. Its rate is {proportional_to}10 times higher than the expected combined pep and CNO neutrino rate in the preferred energy window of observation at [0.8,1.3] MeV. Since {sup 11}C is mostly produced under the release of a free neutron, {sup 11}C can be tagged with a threefold coincidence (TFC) consisting of the muon signal, the neutron capture and the subsequent {sup 11}C decay. By optimizing the TFC method and other rejection techniques, a {sup 11}C rejection efficiency of 80% was achieved. This led to a neutrino-to-background ratio of 1:1.7, whereby
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Citation Formats
Maneschg, Werner.
Low-energy solar neutrino spectroscopy with Borexino. Towards the detection of the solar pep and CNO neutrino flux.
Germany: N. p.,
2011.
Web.
Maneschg, Werner.
Low-energy solar neutrino spectroscopy with Borexino. Towards the detection of the solar pep and CNO neutrino flux.
Germany.
Maneschg, Werner.
2011.
"Low-energy solar neutrino spectroscopy with Borexino. Towards the detection of the solar pep and CNO neutrino flux."
Germany.
@misc{etde_21485512,
title = {Low-energy solar neutrino spectroscopy with Borexino. Towards the detection of the solar pep and CNO neutrino flux}
author = {Maneschg, Werner}
abstractNote = {Borexino is a large-volume organic liquid scintillator detector of unprecedented high radiopurity which has been designed for low-energy neutrino spectroscopy in real time. Besides the main objective of the experiment, the measurement of the solar {sup 7}Be neutrino flux, Borexino also aims at detecting solar neutrinos from the pep fusion process and from the CNO cycle. The detectability of these neutrinos is strictly connected to a successful rejection of all relevant background components. The identification and reduction of these background signals is the central subject of this dissertation. In the first part, contaminants induced by cosmic-ray muons and muon showers were analyzed. The dominant background is the cosmogenic radioisotope {sup 11}C. Its rate is {proportional_to}10 times higher than the expected combined pep and CNO neutrino rate in the preferred energy window of observation at [0.8,1.3] MeV. Since {sup 11}C is mostly produced under the release of a free neutron, {sup 11}C can be tagged with a threefold coincidence (TFC) consisting of the muon signal, the neutron capture and the subsequent {sup 11}C decay. By optimizing the TFC method and other rejection techniques, a {sup 11}C rejection efficiency of 80% was achieved. This led to a neutrino-to-background ratio of 1:1.7, whereby 61% of statistics is lost. The second part of the work concerns the study of the external background. Especially long-range 2.6 MeV gamma rays from {sup 208}Tl decays in the outer detector parts can reach the scintillator in the innermost region of the detector. For the determination of the resultant spectral shape, a custom-made {proportional_to}5 MBq {sup 228}Th source was produced and an external calibration was carried out for the first time. The obtained calibration data and the achieved {sup 11}C rejection efficiency will allow for the direct detection of solar pep and possibly also CNO neutrinos with Borexino. (orig.)}
place = {Germany}
year = {2011}
month = {May}
}
title = {Low-energy solar neutrino spectroscopy with Borexino. Towards the detection of the solar pep and CNO neutrino flux}
author = {Maneschg, Werner}
abstractNote = {Borexino is a large-volume organic liquid scintillator detector of unprecedented high radiopurity which has been designed for low-energy neutrino spectroscopy in real time. Besides the main objective of the experiment, the measurement of the solar {sup 7}Be neutrino flux, Borexino also aims at detecting solar neutrinos from the pep fusion process and from the CNO cycle. The detectability of these neutrinos is strictly connected to a successful rejection of all relevant background components. The identification and reduction of these background signals is the central subject of this dissertation. In the first part, contaminants induced by cosmic-ray muons and muon showers were analyzed. The dominant background is the cosmogenic radioisotope {sup 11}C. Its rate is {proportional_to}10 times higher than the expected combined pep and CNO neutrino rate in the preferred energy window of observation at [0.8,1.3] MeV. Since {sup 11}C is mostly produced under the release of a free neutron, {sup 11}C can be tagged with a threefold coincidence (TFC) consisting of the muon signal, the neutron capture and the subsequent {sup 11}C decay. By optimizing the TFC method and other rejection techniques, a {sup 11}C rejection efficiency of 80% was achieved. This led to a neutrino-to-background ratio of 1:1.7, whereby 61% of statistics is lost. The second part of the work concerns the study of the external background. Especially long-range 2.6 MeV gamma rays from {sup 208}Tl decays in the outer detector parts can reach the scintillator in the innermost region of the detector. For the determination of the resultant spectral shape, a custom-made {proportional_to}5 MBq {sup 228}Th source was produced and an external calibration was carried out for the first time. The obtained calibration data and the achieved {sup 11}C rejection efficiency will allow for the direct detection of solar pep and possibly also CNO neutrinos with Borexino. (orig.)}
place = {Germany}
year = {2011}
month = {May}
}