Muon-induced background in the KATRIN main spectrometer

Abstract

The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment aims to make a model-independent determination of the effective electron antineutrino mass with a sensitivity of 0.2 eV/c${}^2$. It investigates the kinematics of $\beta$-particles from tritium $\beta$-decay close to the endpoint of the energy spectrum. Because the KATRIN main spectrometer (MS) is located above ground, muon-induced backgrounds are of particular concern. Coincidence measurements with the MS and a scintillator-based muon detector system confirmed the model of secondary electron production by cosmic-ray muons inside the MS. Correlation measurements with the same setup showed that about $12\%$ of secondary electrons emitted from the inner surface are induced by cosmic-ray muons, with approximately one secondary electron produced for every 17 muon crossings. However, the magnetic and electrostatic shielding of the MS is able to efficiently suppress these electrons, and we find that muons are responsible for less than $17\%$ ($90\%$ confidence level) of the overall MS background.

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Cited by in corpus (10)

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• The Design, Construction, and Commissioning of the KATRIN Experiment
• KATRIN: Status and Prospects for the Neutrino Mass and Beyond
• Gamma-induced background in the KATRIN main spectrometer
• Search for dark photon and dark matter signatures around electron-positron colliders
• Development of a Silicon Drift Detector Array to Search for keV-scale Sterile Neutrinos with the KATRIN Experiment
• Suppression of Penning discharges between the KATRIN spectrometers
• Measurement of the electric potential and the magnetic field in the shifted analysing plane of the KATRIN experiment