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Title: New 13C(α,n)16O Cross Section with Implications for Neutrino Mixing and Geoneutrino Measurements

Abstract

Precise antineutrino measurements are very sensitive to proper background characterization. Here, we present an improved measurement of the 13C(α,n)16O reaction cross section which constitutes significant background for large v¯ detectors. We greatly improve the precision and accuracy by utilizing a setup that is sensitive to the neutron energies while making measurements of the excited state transitions via secondary γ-ray detection. Our results shows a 54% reduction in the background contributions from the 16O(3–, 6.13 MeV) state used in the KamLAND analysis.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [2];  [1];  [2];  [6];  [7];  [2];  [8];  [2];  [6];  [9];  [2];  [10];  [11];  [2] more »;  [12];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [2] « less
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States)
  3. Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States); Univ. of Surrey, Guildford (United Kingdom)
  4. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
  5. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States); Gran Sasso National Lab. (LNGS), Assergi (Italy)
  6. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  7. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States); Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
  8. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States); Univ. of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA (United States)
  9. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  10. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  11. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  12. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States); Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Science Foundation (NSF); Joint Inst. for Nuclear Astrophysics
OSTI Identifier:
1755900
Grant/Contract Number:  
NA0003897; PHY-1404218; Phys-1713857; Phys-0822648; PHY-1430152
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 125; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; Neutrino oscillations; Nuclear reactions; Nuclear reactors; Neutron techniques

Citation Formats

Febbraro, M., deBoer, R. J., Pain, S. D., Toomey, R., Becchetti, F.  D., Boeltzig, A., Chen, Y., Chipps, K. A., Couder, M., Jones, K. L., Lamere, E., Liu, Q., Lyons, S., Macon, K. T., Morales, L., Peters, W. A., Robertson, D., Rasco, B. C., Smith, K., Seymour, C., Seymour, G., Smith, M. S., Stech, E., Kolk, B. Vande, and Wiescher, M. New 13C(α,n)16O Cross Section with Implications for Neutrino Mixing and Geoneutrino Measurements. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.125.062501.
Febbraro, M., deBoer, R. J., Pain, S. D., Toomey, R., Becchetti, F.  D., Boeltzig, A., Chen, Y., Chipps, K. A., Couder, M., Jones, K. L., Lamere, E., Liu, Q., Lyons, S., Macon, K. T., Morales, L., Peters, W. A., Robertson, D., Rasco, B. C., Smith, K., Seymour, C., Seymour, G., Smith, M. S., Stech, E., Kolk, B. Vande, & Wiescher, M. New 13C(α,n)16O Cross Section with Implications for Neutrino Mixing and Geoneutrino Measurements. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.125.062501
Febbraro, M., deBoer, R. J., Pain, S. D., Toomey, R., Becchetti, F.  D., Boeltzig, A., Chen, Y., Chipps, K. A., Couder, M., Jones, K. L., Lamere, E., Liu, Q., Lyons, S., Macon, K. T., Morales, L., Peters, W. A., Robertson, D., Rasco, B. C., Smith, K., Seymour, C., Seymour, G., Smith, M. S., Stech, E., Kolk, B. Vande, and Wiescher, M. Fri . "New 13C(α,n)16O Cross Section with Implications for Neutrino Mixing and Geoneutrino Measurements". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.125.062501. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1755900.
@article{osti_1755900,
title = {New 13C(α,n)16O Cross Section with Implications for Neutrino Mixing and Geoneutrino Measurements},
author = {Febbraro, M. and deBoer, R. J. and Pain, S. D. and Toomey, R. and Becchetti, F.  D. and Boeltzig, A. and Chen, Y. and Chipps, K. A. and Couder, M. and Jones, K. L. and Lamere, E. and Liu, Q. and Lyons, S. and Macon, K. T. and Morales, L. and Peters, W. A. and Robertson, D. and Rasco, B. C. and Smith, K. and Seymour, C. and Seymour, G. and Smith, M. S. and Stech, E. and Kolk, B. Vande and Wiescher, M.},
abstractNote = {Precise antineutrino measurements are very sensitive to proper background characterization. Here, we present an improved measurement of the 13C(α,n)16O reaction cross section which constitutes significant background for large v¯ detectors. We greatly improve the precision and accuracy by utilizing a setup that is sensitive to the neutron energies while making measurements of the excited state transitions via secondary γ-ray detection. Our results shows a 54% reduction in the background contributions from the 16O(3–, 6.13 MeV) state used in the KamLAND analysis.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevlett.125.062501},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 6,
volume = 125,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Fri Aug 07 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}

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