The Muon-Induced Neutron Indirect Detection EXperiment, MINIDEX

Abstract

A new experiment to quantitatively measure neutrons induced by cosmic-ray muons in selected high-Z materials is introduced. The design of the Muon-Induced Neutron Indirect Detection EXperiment, MINIDEX, and the results from its first data taking period are presented as well as future plans. Neutron production in high-Z materials is of particular interest as such materials are used for shielding in low-background experiments. The design of next-generation large-scale experiments searching for neutrinoless double beta decay or direct interactions of dark matter requires reliable Monte Carlo simulations of background induced by muon interactions. The first five months of operation already provided a valuable data set on neutron production and neutron transport in lead. A first round of comparisons between MINIDEX data and Monte Carlo predictions obtained with two GEANT4- based packages is presented. The rate of muon-induced events is overall a factor three to four higher in data than predicted by the Monte Carlo packages. In addition, the time evolution of the muon-induced signal is not well described by the simulations.

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• The Muon-Induced Neutron Indirect Detection EXperiment, MINIDEX

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Virtual depth by active background suppression: Revisiting the cosmic muon induced background of GERDA Phase II
• The Muon-Induced Neutron Indirect Detection EXperiment, MINIDEX
• Muon-induced neutrons in lead and copper at shallow depth
• Direct measurement of neutrons induced in lead by cosmic muons at a shallow underground site
• Measurement of cosmic muon-induced neutron background with ISMRAN detector in a non-reactor environment
• Evidence for Anomalies in Muon-Induced Neutron Emissions from Pb