Calculation of neutron background for underground experiments

Abstract

New generation dark matter experiments aim at exploring the 10e-9 - 10e-10 pb cross-section region for the WIMP-nucleon scalar interactions. Neutrons produced in the detector components are one of the main factors that can limit detector sensitivity. Estimation of the background from this source then becomes a crucial task for designing future large-scale detectors. Energy spectra and production rates for neutrons coming from radioactive contamination are required for all materials in and around the detector. In order to estimate neutron yields and spectra, the cross-sections of (a,n) reactions and probabilities of transitions to different excited states should be known. Cross-sections and transition probabilities have been calculated using Empire2.19 for several isotopes, and for some isotopes, a comparison with the experimental data is shown. The results have been used to calculate the neutron spectra from materials using the code Sources4A. Neutron background event rates from some detector components in a hypothetical dark matter detector based on Ge crystals have been estimated. Some requirements for the radiopurity of the materials have been deduced from the results of these simulations.

to be published in Nucl. Instrum. and Meth. in Phys. Res. A

References in corpus (6)

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• Low energy neutron propagation in MCNPX and GEANT4
• WARP liquid argon detector for dark matter survey
• Muon-induced neutron production and detection with GEANT4 and FLUKA
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• Neutron production induced by $\alpha$-decay with Geant4
• The expected background spectrum in NaI dark matter detectors and the DAMA result
• Intrinsic neutron background of nuclear emulsions for directional Dark Matter searches
• Radioactivity Backgrounds in ZEPLIN-III
• Background assessment for the TREX Dark Matter experiment
• Neutron production in (alpha, n) reactions
• Dark Matter Detection Capabilities of a Large Multipurpose Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber
• Neutron background signal in superheated droplet detectors of the Phase II SIMPLE dark matter search
• Flux measurement of fast neutrons in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory
• Design and Performance of a Hybrid Fast and Thermal Neutron Detector
• Optimised neutron yield calculations from ($\alpha ,n$) reactions with the modified SOURCES4 code
• BambooMC -- A Geant4-based simulation program for the PandaX experiments
• ALPHANSO: Open-Source Modeling of ($\alpha$,n) Neutron Source Terms