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Title: Cosmogenic backgrounds to $0νββ$ in EXO-200

Journal Article · · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
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  1. Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics, CEEM
  2. Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  3. Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States), Triangle Universities Nuclear Lab. (TUNL), Dept. of Physics
  4. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Physics Dept.
  5. Inst. for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow (Russia)
  6. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  7. McGill Univ., Montreal, QC (Canada). Dept of Physics; TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC (Canada)
  8. Inst. of High Energy Physics, Beijing (China)
  9. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Physics Dept.
  10. Laurentian Univ., Sudbury, ON (Canada). Dept. of Physics
  11. Univ. of Bern, Bern (Switzerland). Albert Einstein Center, LHEP
  12. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  13. TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC (Canada)
  14. Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  15. Carleton Univ., Ottawa, ON (Canada). Physics Dept.
  16. Technische Univ. Munchen, Garching (Germany). Dept. Physik, Excellence Cluster Universe
  17. Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States). Amherst Center for Fundamental Interactions and Physics Dept.
  18. Technische Univ. Munchen, Garching (Germany). Dept. Physik, and Excellence Cluster Universe
  19. Carleton Univ., Ottawa, ON (Canada). Physics Dept.; TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC (Canada)
  20. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Dept. of Physics
  21. Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics, and CEEM
  22. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  23. Inst. of Basic Science, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of). Center for Underground Physics
  24. Univ. of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD (United States). Physics Dept.
  25. Technische Univ. Munchen, Garching (Germany). Dept. Physik and Excellence Cluster Universe
  26. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), Carlsbad, NM (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

As neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments become more sensitive and intrinsic radioactivity in detector materials is reduced, previously minor contributions to the background must be understood and eliminated. With this in mind, cosmogenic backgrounds have been studied with the EXO-200 experiment. Using the EXO-200 TPC, the muon flux (through a flat horizontal surface) underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has been measured to be $$Φ$$ = 4.07±0.14 (sys)±0.03 (stat)×10-7 cm-2 s-1, with a vertical intensity of $$I_v$$ = 2.97+0.14-0.13 (sys) ± 0.02 (stat) × 10-7 cm-2 s-1 sr-1. Simulations of muon-induced backgrounds identified several potential cosmogenic radionuclides, though only 137Xe is a significant background for the 136Xe $0νββ$ search with EXO-200. Muon-induced neutron backgrounds were measured using $$γ$$-rays from neutron capture on the detector materials. This provided a measurement of 137Xe yield, and a test of the accuracy of the neutron production and transport simulations. The independently measured rates of 136Xe neutron capture and of 137Xe decay agree within uncertainties. Geant4 and FLUKA simulations were performed to estimate neutron capture rates, and these estimates agreed to within ~ 40% or better with measurements. The ability to identify 136Xe($n,γ$) events will allow for rejection of 137Xe backgrounds in future $0νββ$ analyses.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1523501
Journal Information:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2016, Issue 04; ISSN 1475-7516
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 20 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Cited By (5)

Cosmogenic activation of materials conference January 2005
Cosmogenic activation of materials
  • Cebrián, S.
  • LOW RADIOACTIVITY TECHNIQUES 2013 (LRT 2013): Proceedings of the IV International Workshop in Low Radioactivity Techniques, AIP Conference Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4818094
conference January 2013
Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay with the Upgraded EXO-200 Detector text January 2017
Sensitivity and discovery potential of the proposed nEXO experiment to neutrinoless double beta decay text January 2017
Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay with the Complete EXO-200 Dataset text January 2019

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