Muon-induced background to proton decay in the $p\to K^{+}\nu$ decay channel with large underground liquid argon TPC detectors

Abstract

Large liquid argon TPC detector programs such as LBNE and LAGUNA-LBNO will be able to make measurements of the proton lifetime which will outperform Cherenkov detectors in the proton decay channel $p\to K^{+}\nu$. At the large depths which are proposed for such experiments, a non-negligible source of isolated charged kaons may be produced in the showers of cosmogenic muons. We present an estimate of the cosmogenic muon background to proton decay in the $p\to K^{+}\nu$ channel. The simulation of muon transport to a depth of 4 km w.e, is performed in the MUSIC framework and the propagation of muons and secondary particles through to a cylindrical 20 kt LAr target is performed using Geant4. An exposure time of 100 years is considered, with a rate of $<0.0012$ events/kt/year at 90$\%$ CL predicted from our simulations.

4 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Physics Letters B

References in corpus (3)

• Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Muon simulation codes MUSIC and MUSUN for underground physics
• Search for Nucleon Decay into Charged Anti-lepton plus Meson in Super-Kamiokande I and II