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Title: Cosmogenic neutron production in water at SNO+

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vs3y-sbb2 · OSTI ID:3337703
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  1. Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP); Universidade de Lisboa
  2. Queen’s University
  3. Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP)
  4. SNOLAB
  5. University of Alberta
  6. University of Pennsylvania
  7. Universidade do Minho; Universidade do Minho
  8. SNOLAB; Laurentian University
  9. University of Oxford
  10. University of California; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  11. King’s College London
  12. Laurentian University
  13. University of Sussex
  14. Institut für Kern und Teilchenphysik
  15. Boston University
  16. TRIUMF
  17. Lancaster University
  18. University of London
  19. SNOLAB; Queen’s University
  20. University of Liverpool
  21. Shandong University; Shandong University
  22. Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas; Universidade de Coimbra
  23. Brookhaven National Laboratory
  24. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
  25. King’s College London; University of London
  26. Institut für Kern und Teilchenphysik; MTA Atomki
+ Show Author Affiliations

Accurate measurement of the cosmogenic muon-induced neutron yield is crucial for constraining a significant background in a wide range of low-energy physics searches. Although previous underground experiments have measured this yield across various cosmogenic muon energies, SNO+ is uniquely positioned due to its exposure to one of the highest average cosmogenic muon energies at 364 GeV. Using ultrapure water, we have determined a neutron yield of 𝑌𝑛 = (3.3⁢8$$^{+0.23}_{−0.30}$$) × 10−4 cm2 g−1 𝜇−1 at SNO+. Comparison with simulations demonstrates clear agreement with the FLUKA neutron production model, highlighting discrepancies with the widely used GEANT4 model. Furthermore, this measurement reveals a lower cosmogenic neutron yield than that observed by the SNO experiment, which used heavy water under identical muon flux conditions. This result provides new evidence that nuclear structure and target material composition significantly influence neutron production by cosmogenic muons, offering fresh insight with important implications for the design and background modeling of future underground experiments.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-00ER41138; SC0012704
OSTI ID:
3337703
Report Number(s):
BNL--229673-2026-JAAM
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D., Journal Name: Physical Review. D. Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 113; ISSN 2470-0010; ISSN 2470-0029
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (29)

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journal June 2003
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journal July 2003
Muon-induced neutron production and detection with GEANT4 and FLUKA
  • Araújo, H. M.; Kudryavtsev, V. A.; Spooner, N. J. C.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 545, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2005.02.004
journal June 2005
The SNOLAB Deep Underground Research Facility and Its Science Program journal January 2013
Cosmogenic Backgrounds in Borexino at 3800 m water-equivalent depth journal August 2013
Measurement of muon-induced neutron yield at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory * journal August 2022
The SNO+ experiment journal August 2021
Measurement of neutron-proton capture in the SNO + water phase journal July 2020
Muon-induced neutron and pion production in an organic liquid scintillator at a shallow depth journal December 1995
Production of radioactive isotopes through cosmic muon spallation in KamLAND journal February 2010
First calculation of cosmic-ray muon spallation backgrounds for MeV astrophysical neutrino signals in Super-Kamiokande journal April 2014
Cosmogenic neutron production at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory journal December 2019
Improved search for invisible modes of nucleon decay in water with the SNO+detector journal June 2022
Measurement of the cosmogenic neutron yield in Super-Kamiokande with gadolinium loaded water journal May 2023
Measurement of the B8 solar neutrino flux using the full SNO+ water phase dataset journal December 2024
Neutron tagging can greatly reduce spallation backgrounds in Super-Kamiokande journal January 2025
Neutron production by cosmic-ray muons at shallow depth journal October 2000
Predicting neutron production from cosmic-ray muons journal June 2001
Muon-induced background study for underground laboratories journal March 2006
Measurement of the cosmic ray and neutrino-induced muon flux at the Sudbury neutrino observatory journal July 2009
First measurement of radioactive isotope production through cosmic-ray muon spallation in Super-Kamiokande IV journal January 2016
Measurement of cosmic-ray muons and muon-induced neutrons in the Aberdeen Tunnel Underground Laboratory journal April 2016
Cosmogenic neutron production at Daya Bay journal March 2018
Measurement of the B 8 solar neutrino flux in SNO + with very low backgrounds journal January 2019
Search for invisible modes of nucleon decay in water with the SNO+ detector journal February 2019
Evidence of Antineutrinos from Distant Reactors Using Pure Water at SNO+ journal March 2023
The SNOLAB deep underground facility journal September 2012

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