Validation of a model for Radon-induced background processes in electrostatic spectrometers

Abstract

The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment investigating tritium beta-decay close to the endpoint with unprecedented precision has stringent requirements on the background level of less than 10^(-2) counts per second. Electron emission during the alpha-decay of Rn-219 and Rn-220 atoms in the electrostatic spectrometers of KATRIN is a serious source of background exceeding this limit. In this paper we compare extensive simulations of Rn-induced background to specific measurements with the KATRIN pre-spectrometer to fully characterize the observed Rn-background rates and signatures and determine generic Rn emanation rates from the pre-spectrometer bulk material and its vacuum components.

10 figures

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• The Design, Construction, and Commissioning of the KATRIN Experiment
• Kassiopeia: A Modern, Extensible C++ Particle Tracking Package
• First operation of the KATRIN experiment with tritium
• Background due to stored electrons following nuclear decays in the KATRIN spectrometers and its impact on the neutrino mass sensitivity
• Modeling of electron emission processes accompanying Radon-$\alpha$-decays within electrostatic spectrometers
• Reduction of stored-particle background by a magnetic pulse method at the KATRIN experiment