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  • Accepted Manuscript: Unfolding neutron spectrum with Markov Chain Monte Carlo at MIT research Reactor with He-3 Neutral Current Detectors [Measuring neutron spectrum at MIT research reactor utilizing He-3 Bonner Cylinder Approach with an unfolding analysis]

This content will become publicly available on February 2, 2019

Title: Unfolding neutron spectrum with Markov Chain Monte Carlo at MIT research Reactor with He-3 Neutral Current Detectors [Measuring neutron spectrum at MIT research reactor utilizing He-3 Bonner Cylinder Approach with an unfolding analysis]

Here, the Ricochet experiment seeks to measure Coherent (neutral-current) Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CEνNS) using dark-matter-style detectors with sub-keV thresholds placed near a neutrino source, such as the MIT (research) Reactor (MITR), which operates at 5.5 MW generating approximately 2.2 × 10 18 ν/second in its core. Currently, Ricochet is characterizing the backgrounds at MITR, the main component of which comes in the form of neutrons emitted from the core simultaneous with the neutrino signal. To characterize this background, we wrapped Bonner cylinders around a 3 2He thermal neutron detector, whose data was then unfolded via a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) to produce a neutron energy spectrum across several orders of magnitude. We discuss the resulting spectrum and its implications for deploying Ricochet at the MITR site as well as the feasibility of reducing this background level via the addition of polyethylene shielding around the detector setup.
Authors:
ORCiD logo [1] ; ORCiD logo [2] ;  [3] ;  [4] ;  [1] ;  [5] ;  [1] ;  [5] ;  [1] ;  [1] ;  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
  3. Univ. Lyon (France)
  4. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
  5. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Publication Date:
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-17-441-AE; arXiv:1710.00802
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-0221; 1628106
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359
Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Instrumentation
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 13; Journal Issue: 02; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-0221
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Research Org:
Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Neutrino detectors; Neutron detectors (cold, thermal, fast neutrons); Detector modelling and simulations I (interaction of radiation with matter, interaction of photons with matter, interaction of hadrons with matter, etc); Gaseous detectors
OSTI Identifier:
1407124