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Neutron multiplicity measurement in muon capture on oxygen nuclei in the Gd-loaded Super-Kamiokande detector
Authors:
The Super-Kamiokande Collaboration,
:,
S. Miki,
K. Abe,
S. Abe,
Y. Asaoka,
C. Bronner,
M. Harada,
Y. Hayato,
K. Hiraide,
K. Hosokawa,
K. Ieki,
M. Ikeda,
J. Kameda,
Y. Kanemura,
R. Kaneshima,
Y. Kashiwagi,
Y. Kataoka,
S. Mine,
M. Miura,
S. Moriyama,
M. Nakahata,
S. Nakayama,
Y. Noguchi,
K. Okamoto
, et al. (265 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
In recent neutrino detectors, neutrons produced in neutrino reactions play an important role. Muon capture on oxygen nuclei is one of the processes that produce neutrons in water Cherenkov detectors. We measured neutron multiplicity in the process using cosmic ray muons that stop in the gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande detector. For this measurement, neutron detection efficiency is obtained with…
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In recent neutrino detectors, neutrons produced in neutrino reactions play an important role. Muon capture on oxygen nuclei is one of the processes that produce neutrons in water Cherenkov detectors. We measured neutron multiplicity in the process using cosmic ray muons that stop in the gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande detector. For this measurement, neutron detection efficiency is obtained with the muon capture events followed by gamma rays to be $50.2^{+2.0}_{-2.1}\%$. By fitting the observed multiplicity considering the detection efficiency, we measure neutron multiplicity in muon capture as $P(0)=24\pm3\%$, $P(1)=70^{+3}_{-2}\%$, $P(2)=6.1\pm0.5\%$, $P(3)=0.38\pm0.09\%$. This is the first measurement of the multiplicity of neutrons associated with muon capture on oxygen without neutron energy threshold.
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Submitted 31 January, 2026; v1 submitted 24 February, 2025;
originally announced February 2025.
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Combined Pre-Supernova Alert System with Kamland and Super-Kamiokande
Authors:
KamLAND,
Super-Kamiokande Collaborations,
:,
Seisho Abe,
Minori Eizuka,
Sawako Futagi,
Azusa Gando,
Yoshihito Gando,
Shun Goto,
Takahiko Hachiya,
Kazumi Hata,
Koichi Ichimura,
Sei Ieki,
Haruo Ikeda,
Kunio Inoue,
Koji Ishidoshiro,
Yuto Kamei,
Nanami Kawada,
Yasuhiro Kishimoto,
Masayuki Koga,
Maho Kurasawa,
Tadao Mitsui,
Haruhiko Miyake,
Daisuke Morita,
Takeshi Nakahata
, et al. (290 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Preceding a core-collapse supernova, various processes produce an increasing amount of neutrinos of all flavors characterized by mounting energies from the interior of massive stars. Among them, the electron antineutrinos are potentially detectable by terrestrial neutrino experiments such as KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande via inverse beta decay interactions. Once these pre-supernova neutrinos are ob…
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Preceding a core-collapse supernova, various processes produce an increasing amount of neutrinos of all flavors characterized by mounting energies from the interior of massive stars. Among them, the electron antineutrinos are potentially detectable by terrestrial neutrino experiments such as KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande via inverse beta decay interactions. Once these pre-supernova neutrinos are observed, an early warning of the upcoming core-collapse supernova can be provided. In light of this, KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande, both located in the Kamioka mine in Japan, have been monitoring pre-supernova neutrinos since 2015 and 2021, respectively. Recently, we performed a joint study between KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande on pre-supernova neutrino detection. A pre-supernova alert system combining the KamLAND detector and the Super-Kamiokande detector was developed and put into operation, which can provide a supernova alert to the astrophysics community. Fully leveraging the complementary properties of these two detectors, the combined alert is expected to resolve a pre-supernova neutrino signal from a 15 M$_{\odot}$ star within 510 pc of the Earth, at a significance level corresponding to a false alarm rate of no more than 1 per century. For a Betelgeuse-like model with optimistic parameters, it can provide early warnings up to 12 hours in advance.
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Submitted 1 July, 2024; v1 submitted 15 April, 2024;
originally announced April 2024.
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Second gadolinium loading to Super-Kamiokande
Authors:
K. Abe,
C. Bronner,
Y. Hayato,
K. Hiraide,
K. Hosokawa,
K. Ieki,
M. Ikeda,
J. Kameda,
Y. Kanemura,
R. Kaneshima,
Y. Kashiwagi,
Y. Kataoka,
S. Miki,
S. Mine,
M. Miura,
S. Moriyama,
Y. Nakano,
M. Nakahata,
S. Nakayama,
Y. Noguchi,
K. Sato,
H. Sekiya,
H. Shiba,
K. Shimizu,
M. Shiozawa
, et al. (225 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The first loading of gadolinium (Gd) into Super-Kamiokande in 2020 was successful, and the neutron capture efficiency on Gd reached 50\%. To further increase the Gd neutron capture efficiency to 75\%, 26.1 tons of $\rm Gd_2(\rm SO_4)_3\cdot \rm 8H_2O$ was additionally loaded into Super-Kamiokande (SK) from May 31 to July 4, 2022. As the amount of loaded $\rm Gd_2(\rm SO_4)_3\cdot \rm 8H_2O$ was do…
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The first loading of gadolinium (Gd) into Super-Kamiokande in 2020 was successful, and the neutron capture efficiency on Gd reached 50\%. To further increase the Gd neutron capture efficiency to 75\%, 26.1 tons of $\rm Gd_2(\rm SO_4)_3\cdot \rm 8H_2O$ was additionally loaded into Super-Kamiokande (SK) from May 31 to July 4, 2022. As the amount of loaded $\rm Gd_2(\rm SO_4)_3\cdot \rm 8H_2O$ was doubled compared to the first loading, the capacity of the powder dissolving system was doubled. We also developed new batches of gadolinium sulfate with even further reduced radioactive impurities. In addition, a more efficient screening method was devised and implemented to evaluate these new batches of $\rm Gd_2(\rm SO_4)_3\cdot \rm 8H_2O$. Following the second loading, the Gd concentration in SK was measured to be $333.5\pm2.5$ ppm via an Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS). From the mean neutron capture time constant of neutrons from an Am/Be calibration source, the Gd concentration was independently measured to be 332.7 $\pm$ 6.8(sys.) $\pm$ 1.1(stat.) ppm, consistent with the AAS result. Furthermore, during the loading the Gd concentration was monitored continually using the capture time constant of each spallation neutron produced by cosmic-ray muons,and the final neutron capture efficiency was shown to become 1.5 times higher than that of the first loaded phase, as expected.
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Submitted 18 June, 2024; v1 submitted 12 March, 2024;
originally announced March 2024.
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Multi-Calorimetry in Light-based Neutrino Detectors
Authors:
Anatael Cabrera,
Yang Han,
Steven Calvez,
Emmanuel Chauveau,
Hanyi Chen,
Hervé de Kerret,
Stefano Dusini,
Marco Grassi,
Leonard Imbert,
Jiajun Li,
Roberto Carlos Mandujano,
Diana Navas-Nicolás,
Hiroshi Nunokawa,
Michel Obolensky,
Juan Pedro Ochoa-Ricoux,
Guillaume Pronost,
Benoit Viaud,
Frédéric Yermia
Abstract:
Neutrino detectors are among the largest photon detection instruments, built to capture scarce photons upon energy deposition. Many discoveries in neutrino physics, including the neutrino itself, are inseparable from the advances in photon detection technology, particularly in photo-sensors and readout electronics, to yield ever higher precision and richer detection information. The measurement of…
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Neutrino detectors are among the largest photon detection instruments, built to capture scarce photons upon energy deposition. Many discoveries in neutrino physics, including the neutrino itself, are inseparable from the advances in photon detection technology, particularly in photo-sensors and readout electronics, to yield ever higher precision and richer detection information. The measurement of the energy of neutrinos, referred to as calorimetry, can be achieved in two distinct approaches: photon-counting, where single-photon can be counted digitally, and photon-integration, where multi-photons are aggregated and estimated via analogue signals. The energy is pursued today to reach permille level systematics control precision in ever-vast volumes, exemplified by experiments like JUNO. The unprecedented precision brings to the foreground the systematics due to calorimetric response entanglements in energy, position and time that were negligible in the past, thus driving further innovation in calorimetry. This publication describes a novel articulation that detectors can be endowed with multiple photon detection systems. This multi-calorimetry approach opens the notion of dual-calorimetry detector, consisting of both photon-counting and photon-integration systems, as a cost-effective evolution from the single calorimetry setups used over several decades for most experiments so far. The dual-calorimetry design exploits unique response synergies between photon-counting and photon-integration systems, including correlations and cancellations in calorimetric responses, to maximise the mitigation of response entanglements, thereby yielding permille-level high-precision calorimetry.
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Submitted 6 December, 2024; v1 submitted 20 December, 2023;
originally announced December 2023.
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Search for astrophysical electron antineutrinos in Super-Kamiokande with 0.01wt% gadolinium-loaded water
Authors:
M. Harada,
K. Abe,
C. Bronner,
Y. Hayato,
K. Hiraide,
K. Hosokawa,
K. Ieki,
M. Ikeda,
J. Kameda,
Y. Kanemura,
R. Kaneshima,
Y. Kashiwagi,
Y. Kataoka,
S. Miki,
S. Mine,
M. Miura,
S. Moriyama,
Y. Nakano,
M. Nakahata,
S. Nakayama,
Y. Noguchi,
K. Okamoto,
K. Sato,
H. Sekiya,
H. Shiba
, et al. (216 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
We report the first search result for the flux of astrophysical electron antineutrinos for energies O(10) MeV in the gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector. In June 2020, gadolinium was introduced to the ultra-pure water of the SK detector in order to detect neutrons more efficiently. In this new experimental phase, SK-Gd, we can search for electron antineutrinos via inverse beta decay w…
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We report the first search result for the flux of astrophysical electron antineutrinos for energies O(10) MeV in the gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector. In June 2020, gadolinium was introduced to the ultra-pure water of the SK detector in order to detect neutrons more efficiently. In this new experimental phase, SK-Gd, we can search for electron antineutrinos via inverse beta decay with efficient background rejection and higher signal efficiency thanks to the high efficiency of the neutron tagging technique. In this paper, we report the result for the initial stage of SK-Gd with a $22.5\times552$ $\rm kton\cdot day$ exposure at 0.01% Gd mass concentration. No significant excess over the expected background in the observed events is found for the neutrino energies below 31.3 MeV. Thus, the flux upper limits are placed at the 90% confidence level. The limits and sensitivities are already comparable with the previous SK result with pure-water ($22.5 \times 2970 \rm kton\cdot day$) owing to the enhanced neutron tagging.
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Submitted 30 May, 2023; v1 submitted 8 May, 2023;
originally announced May 2023.
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Searching for neutrinos from solar flares across solar cycles 23 and 24 with the Super-Kamiokande detector
Authors:
K. Okamoto,
K. Abe,
Y. Hayato,
K. Hiraide,
K. Hosokawa,
K. Ieki,
M. Ikeda,
J. Kameda,
Y. Kanemura,
Y. Kaneshima,
Y. Kataoka,
Y. Kashiwagi,
S. Miki,
S. Mine,
M. Miura,
S. Moriyama,
Y. Nagao,
M. Nakahata,
Y. Nakano,
S. Nakayama,
Y. Noguchi,
K. Sato,
H. Sekiya,
K. Shimizu,
M. Shiozawa
, et al. (220 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Neutrinos associated with solar flares (solar-flare neutrinos) provide information on particle acceleration mechanisms during the impulsive phase of solar flares. We searched using the Super-Kamiokande detector for neutrinos from solar flares that occurred during solar cycles $23$ and $24$, including the largest solar flare (X28.0) on November 4th, 2003. In order to minimize the background rate we…
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Neutrinos associated with solar flares (solar-flare neutrinos) provide information on particle acceleration mechanisms during the impulsive phase of solar flares. We searched using the Super-Kamiokande detector for neutrinos from solar flares that occurred during solar cycles $23$ and $24$, including the largest solar flare (X28.0) on November 4th, 2003. In order to minimize the background rate we searched for neutrino interactions within narrow time windows coincident with $γ$-rays and soft X-rays recorded by satellites. In addition, we performed the first attempt to search for solar-flare neutrinos from solar flares on the invisible side of the Sun by using the emission time of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). By selecting twenty powerful solar flares above X5.0 on the visible side and eight CMEs whose emission speed exceeds $2000$ $\mathrm{km \, s^{-1}}$ on the invisible side from 1996 to 2018, we found two (six) neutrino events coincident with solar flares occurring on the visible (invisible) side of the Sun, with a typical background rate of $0.10$ ($0.62$) events per flare in the MeV-GeV energy range. No significant solar-flare neutrino signal above the estimated background rate was observed. As a result we set the following upper limit on neutrino fluence at the Earth $\mathitΦ<1.1\times10^{6}$ $\mathrm{cm^{-2}}$ at the $90\%$ confidence level for the largest solar flare. The resulting fluence limits allow us to constrain some of the theoretical models for solar-flare neutrino emission.
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Submitted 26 October, 2022; v1 submitted 24 October, 2022;
originally announced October 2022.
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Neutron Tagging following Atmospheric Neutrino Events in a Water Cherenkov Detector
Authors:
K. Abe,
Y. Haga,
Y. Hayato,
K. Hiraide,
K. Ieki,
M. Ikeda,
S. Imaizumi,
K. Iyogi,
J. Kameda,
Y. Kanemura,
Y. Kataoka,
Y. Kato,
Y. Kishimoto,
S. Miki,
S. Mine,
M. Miura,
T. Mochizuki,
S. Moriyama,
Y. Nagao,
M. Nakahata,
T. Nakajima,
Y. Nakano,
S. Nakayama,
T. Okada,
K. Okamoto
, et al. (281 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
We present the development of neutron-tagging techniques in Super-Kamiokande IV using a neural network analysis. The detection efficiency of neutron capture on hydrogen is estimated to be 26%, with a mis-tag rate of 0.016 per neutrino event. The uncertainty of the tagging efficiency is estimated to be 9.0%. Measurement of the tagging efficiency with data from an Americium-Beryllium calibration agr…
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We present the development of neutron-tagging techniques in Super-Kamiokande IV using a neural network analysis. The detection efficiency of neutron capture on hydrogen is estimated to be 26%, with a mis-tag rate of 0.016 per neutrino event. The uncertainty of the tagging efficiency is estimated to be 9.0%. Measurement of the tagging efficiency with data from an Americium-Beryllium calibration agrees with this value within 10%. The tagging procedure was performed on 3,244.4 days of SK-IV atmospheric neutrino data, identifying 18,091 neutrons in 26,473 neutrino events. The fitted neutron capture lifetime was measured as 218 \pm 9 μs.
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Submitted 20 September, 2022; v1 submitted 18 September, 2022;
originally announced September 2022.
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Pre-Supernova Alert System for Super-Kamiokande
Authors:
Super-Kamiokande Collaboration,
:,
L. N. Machado,
K. Abe,
Y. Hayato,
K. Hiraide,
K. Ieki,
M. Ikeda,
J. Kameda,
Y. Kanemura,
R. Kaneshima,
Y. Kashiwagi,
Y. Kataoka,
S. Miki,
S. Mine,
M. Miura,
S. Moriyama,
Y. Nakano,
M. Nakahata,
S. Nakayama,
Y. Noguchi,
K. Okamoto,
K. Sato,
H. Sekiya,
H. Shiba
, et al. (202 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
In 2020, the Super-Kamiokande (SK) experiment moved to a new stage (SK-Gd) in which gadolinium (Gd) sulfate octahydrate was added to the water in the detector, enhancing the efficiency to detect thermal neutrons and consequently improving the sensitivity to low energy electron anti-neutrinos from inverse beta decay (IBD) interactions. SK-Gd has the potential to provide early alerts of incipient co…
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In 2020, the Super-Kamiokande (SK) experiment moved to a new stage (SK-Gd) in which gadolinium (Gd) sulfate octahydrate was added to the water in the detector, enhancing the efficiency to detect thermal neutrons and consequently improving the sensitivity to low energy electron anti-neutrinos from inverse beta decay (IBD) interactions. SK-Gd has the potential to provide early alerts of incipient core-collapse supernovae through detection of electron anti-neutrinos from thermal and nuclear processes responsible for the cooling of massive stars before the gravitational collapse of their cores. These pre-supernova neutrinos emitted during the silicon burning phase can exceed the energy threshold for IBD reactions. We present the sensitivity of SK-Gd to pre-supernova stars and the techniques used for the development of a pre-supernova alarm based on the detection of these neutrinos in SK, as well as prospects for future SK-Gd phases with higher concentrations of Gd. For the current SK-Gd phase, high-confidence alerts for Betelgeuse could be issued up to nine hours in advance of the core-collapse itself.
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Submitted 17 August, 2022; v1 submitted 19 May, 2022;
originally announced May 2022.
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A Call to Arms Control: Synergies between Nonproliferation Applications of Neutrino Detectors and Large-Scale Fundamental Neutrino Physics Experiments
Authors:
T. Akindele,
T. Anderson,
E. Anderssen,
M. Askins,
M. Bohles,
A. J. Bacon,
Z. Bagdasarian,
A. Baldoni,
A. Barna,
N. Barros,
L. Bartoszek,
A. Bat,
E. W. Beier,
T. Benson,
M. Bergevin,
A. Bernstein,
B. Birrittella,
E. Blucher,
J. Boissevain,
R. Bonventre,
J. Borusinki,
E. Bourret,
D. Brown,
E. J. Callaghan,
J. Caravaca
, et al. (140 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The High Energy Physics community can benefit from a natural synergy in research activities into next-generation large-scale water and scintillator neutrino detectors, now being studied for remote reactor monitoring, discovery and exclusion applications in cooperative nonproliferation contexts.
Since approximately 2010, US nonproliferation researchers, supported by the National Nuclear Security…
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The High Energy Physics community can benefit from a natural synergy in research activities into next-generation large-scale water and scintillator neutrino detectors, now being studied for remote reactor monitoring, discovery and exclusion applications in cooperative nonproliferation contexts.
Since approximately 2010, US nonproliferation researchers, supported by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), have been studying a range of possible applications of relatively large (100 ton) to very large (hundreds of kiloton) water and scintillator neutrino detectors.
In parallel, the fundamental physics community has been developing detectors at similar scales and with similar design features for a range of high-priority physics topics, primarily in fundamental neutrino physics. These topics include neutrino oscillation studies at beams and reactors, solar, and geological neutrino measurements, supernova studies, and others.
Examples of ongoing synergistic work at U.S. national laboratories and universities include prototype gadolinium-doped water and water-based and opaque scintillator test-beds and demonstrators, extensive testing and industry partnerships related to large area fast position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes, and the development of concepts for a possible underground kiloton-scale water-based detector for reactor monitoring and technology demonstrations.
Some opportunities for engagement between the two communities include bi-annual Applied Antineutrino Physics conferences, collaboration with U.S. National Laboratories engaging in this research, and occasional NNSA funding opportunities supporting a blend of nonproliferation and basic science R&D, directed at the U.S. academic community.
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Submitted 20 April, 2022; v1 submitted 28 February, 2022;
originally announced March 2022.
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The Double Chooz antineutrino detectors
Authors:
Double Chooz Collaboration,
H. de Kerret,
Y. Abe,
C. Aberle,
T. Abrahão,
J. M. Ahijado,
T. Akiri,
J. M. Alarcón,
J. Alba,
H. Almazan,
J. C. dos Anjos,
S. Appel,
F. Ardellier,
I. Barabanov,
J. C. Barriere,
E. Baussan,
A. Baxter,
I. Bekman,
M. Bergevin,
A. Bernstein,
W. Bertoli,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
C. Blanco,
N. Bleurvacq
, et al. (226 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
This article describes the setup and performance of the near and far detectors in the Double Chooz experiment. The electron antineutrinos of the Chooz nuclear power plant were measured in two identically designed detectors with different average baselines of about 400 m and 1050 m from the two reactor cores. Over many years of data taking the neutrino signals were extracted from interactions in th…
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This article describes the setup and performance of the near and far detectors in the Double Chooz experiment. The electron antineutrinos of the Chooz nuclear power plant were measured in two identically designed detectors with different average baselines of about 400 m and 1050 m from the two reactor cores. Over many years of data taking the neutrino signals were extracted from interactions in the detectors with the goal of measuring a fundamental parameter in the context of neutrino oscillation, the mixing angle θ13. The central part of the Double Chooz detectors was a main detector comprising four cylindrical volumes filled with organic liquids. From the inside towards the outside there were volumes containing gadolinium-loaded scintillator, gadolinium-free scintillator, a buffer oil and, optically separated, another liquid scintillator acting as veto system. Above this main detector an additional outer veto system using plastic scintillator strips was installed. The technologies developed in Double Chooz were inspiration for several other antineutrino detectors in the field. The detector design allowed implementation of efficient background rejection techniques including use of pulse shape information provided by the data acquisition system. The Double Chooz detectors featured remarkable stability, in particular for the detected photons, as well as high radiopurity of the detector components.
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Submitted 13 September, 2022; v1 submitted 31 January, 2022;
originally announced January 2022.
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Improvement of radon detector performance by using a large-sized PIN-photodiode
Authors:
K. Okamoto,
Y. Nakano,
G. Pronost,
H. Sekiya,
S. Tasaka,
Y. Takeuchi,
M. Nakahata
Abstract:
Radioactive noble gas radon ($\mathrm{^{222}Rn}$) is one of the major background sources below the MeV region in rare event search experiments. To precisely measure radon concentration in purified gases, a radon detector with an electrostatic collection method is widely used. In this paper, we discussed the improvements of a radon detector by installing a new PIN-photodiode ($28\times28$…
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Radioactive noble gas radon ($\mathrm{^{222}Rn}$) is one of the major background sources below the MeV region in rare event search experiments. To precisely measure radon concentration in purified gases, a radon detector with an electrostatic collection method is widely used. In this paper, we discussed the improvements of a radon detector by installing a new PIN-photodiode ($28\times28$ $\mathrm{mm}$) whose surface area is $2.5$ times larger than that used previously ($18\times18$ $\mathrm{mm}$). We evaluated the detector's performance by serially connecting two radon detectors equipped with two types of PIN-photodiodes. As a result of the calibrations, we found an improvement of $(3.8\pm2.4)\%$ in the detection efficiencies below $1.0$ $\mathrm{g/m^{3}}$, while a $10$-$20\%$ improvement occurred above this level. The intrinsic background of the detector equipped with the large PIN-photodiode was measured as $0.24^{+0.09}_{-0.05}$ $\mathrm{mBq/m^{3}}$. This background level is consistent with the radon detector with the small PIN-photodiode, although we installed the large one. This improvement is useful for applications in radon emanation measurements from a material, which also emits water from its surface.
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Submitted 13 December, 2021;
originally announced December 2021.
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First Gadolinium Loading to Super-Kamiokande
Authors:
K. Abe,
C. Bronner,
Y. Hayato,
K. Hiraide,
M. Ikeda,
S. Imaizumi,
J. Kameda,
Y. Kanemura,
Y. Kataoka,
S. Miki,
M. Miura,
S. Moriyama,
Y. Nagao,
M. Nakahata,
S. Nakayama,
T. Okada,
K. Okamoto,
A. Orii,
G. Pronost,
H. Sekiya,
M. Shiozawa,
Y. Sonoda,
Y. Suzuki,
A. Takeda,
Y. Takemoto
, et al. (192 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
In order to improve Super-Kamiokande's neutron detection efficiency and to thereby increase its sensitivity to the diffuse supernova neutrino background flux, 13 tons of $\rm Gd_2(\rm SO_4)_3\cdot \rm 8H_2O$ (gadolinium sulfate octahydrate) was dissolved into the detector's otherwise ultrapure water from July 14 to August 17, 2020, marking the start of the SK-Gd phase of operations. During the loa…
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In order to improve Super-Kamiokande's neutron detection efficiency and to thereby increase its sensitivity to the diffuse supernova neutrino background flux, 13 tons of $\rm Gd_2(\rm SO_4)_3\cdot \rm 8H_2O$ (gadolinium sulfate octahydrate) was dissolved into the detector's otherwise ultrapure water from July 14 to August 17, 2020, marking the start of the SK-Gd phase of operations. During the loading, water was continuously recirculated at a rate of 60 m$^3$/h, extracting water from the top of the detector and mixing it with concentrated $\rm Gd_2(\rm SO_4)_3\cdot \rm 8H_2O$ solution to create a 0.02% solution of the Gd compound before injecting it into the bottom of the detector. A clear boundary between the Gd-loaded and pure water was maintained through the loading, enabling monitoring of the loading itself and the spatial uniformity of the Gd concentration over the 35 days it took to reach the top of the detector. During the subsequent commissioning the recirculation rate was increased to 120 m$^3$/h, resulting in a constant and uniform distribution of Gd throughout the detector and water transparency equivalent to that of previous pure-water operation periods. Using an Am-Be neutron calibration source the mean neutron capture time was measured to be $115\pm1$ $μ$s, which corresponds to a Gd concentration of $111\pm2$ ppm, as expected for this level of Gd loading. This paper describes changes made to the water circulation system for this detector upgrade, the Gd loading procedure, detector commissioning, and the first neutron calibration measurements in SK-Gd.
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Submitted 15 December, 2021; v1 submitted 1 September, 2021;
originally announced September 2021.
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Supernova Model Discrimination with Hyper-Kamiokande
Authors:
Hyper-Kamiokande Collaboration,
:,
K. Abe,
P. Adrich,
H. Aihara,
R. Akutsu,
I. Alekseev,
A. Ali,
F. Ameli,
I. Anghel,
L. H. V. Anthony,
M. Antonova,
A. Araya,
Y. Asaoka,
Y. Ashida,
V. Aushev,
F. Ballester,
I. Bandac,
M. Barbi,
G. J. Barker,
G. Barr,
M. Batkiewicz-Kwasniak,
M. Bellato,
V. Berardi,
M. Bergevin
, et al. (478 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Core-collapse supernovae are among the most magnificent events in the observable universe. They produce many of the chemical elements necessary for life to exist and their remnants -- neutron stars and black holes -- are interesting astrophysical objects in their own right. However, despite millennia of observations and almost a century of astrophysical study, the explosion mechanism of core-colla…
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Core-collapse supernovae are among the most magnificent events in the observable universe. They produce many of the chemical elements necessary for life to exist and their remnants -- neutron stars and black holes -- are interesting astrophysical objects in their own right. However, despite millennia of observations and almost a century of astrophysical study, the explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae is not yet well understood. Hyper-Kamiokande is a next-generation neutrino detector that will be able to observe the neutrino flux from the next galactic core-collapse supernova in unprecedented detail. We focus on the first 500 ms of the neutrino burst, corresponding to the accretion phase, and use a newly-developed, high-precision supernova event generator to simulate Hyper-Kamiokande's response to five different supernova models. We show that Hyper-Kamiokande will be able to distinguish between these models with high accuracy for a supernova at a distance of up to 100 kpc. Once the next galactic supernova happens, this ability will be a powerful tool for guiding simulations towards a precise reproduction of the explosion mechanism observed in nature.
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Submitted 20 July, 2021; v1 submitted 13 January, 2021;
originally announced January 2021.
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Search for solar electron anti-neutrinos due to spin-flavor precession in the Sun with Super-Kamiokande-IV
Authors:
Super-Kamiokande Collaboration,
:,
K. Abe,
C. Bronner,
Y. Hayato,
M. Ikeda,
S. Imaizumi,
H. Ito,
J. Kameda,
Y. Kataoka,
M. Miura,
S. Moriyama,
Y. Nagao,
M. Nakahata,
Y. Nakajima,
S. Nakayama,
T. Okada,
K. Okamoto,
A. Orii,
G. Pronost,
H. Sekiya,
M. Shiozawa,
Y. Sonoda,
Y. Suzuki,
A. Takeda
, et al. (177 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Due to a very low production rate of electron anti-neutrinos ($\barν_e$) via nuclear fusion in the Sun, a flux of solar $\barν_e$ is unexpected. An appearance of $\barν_e$ in solar neutrino flux opens a new window for the new physics beyond the standard model. In particular, a spin-flavor precession process is expected to convert an electron neutrino into an electron anti-neutrino (…
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Due to a very low production rate of electron anti-neutrinos ($\barν_e$) via nuclear fusion in the Sun, a flux of solar $\barν_e$ is unexpected. An appearance of $\barν_e$ in solar neutrino flux opens a new window for the new physics beyond the standard model. In particular, a spin-flavor precession process is expected to convert an electron neutrino into an electron anti-neutrino (${ν_e\to\barν_e}$) when neutrino has a finite magnetic moment. In this work, we have searched for solar $\barν_e$ in the Super-Kamiokande experiment, using neutron tagging to identify their inverse beta decay signature. We identified 78 $\barν_e$ candidates for neutrino energies of 9.3 to 17.3 MeV in 2970.1 live days with a fiducial volume of 22.5 kiloton water (183.0 kton$\cdot$year exposure). The energy spectrum has been consistent with background predictions and we thus derived a 90% confidence level upper limit of ${4.7\times10^{-4}}$ on the $ν_e\to\barν_e$ conversion probability in the Sun. We used this result to evaluate the sensitivity of future experiments, notably the Super-Kamiokande Gadolinium (SK-Gd) upgrade.
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Submitted 17 March, 2022; v1 submitted 7 December, 2020;
originally announced December 2020.
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Search for Signatures of Sterile Neutrinos with Double Chooz
Authors:
The Double Chooz Collaboration,
T. Abrahão,
H. Almazan,
J. C. dos Anjos,
S. Appel,
J. C. Barriere,
I. Bekman,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
T. Brugière,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
M. Cerrada,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
O. Corpace,
J. V. Dawson,
Z. Djurcic,
A. Etenko,
H. Furuta,
I. Gil-Botella,
A. Givaudan,
H. Gomez
, et al. (70 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
We present a search for signatures of neutrino mixing of electron anti-neutrinos with additional hypothetical sterile neutrino flavors using the Double Chooz experiment. The search is based on data from 5 years of operation of Double Chooz, including 2 years in the two-detector configuration. The analysis is based on a profile likelihood, i.e.\ comparing the data to the model prediction of disappe…
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We present a search for signatures of neutrino mixing of electron anti-neutrinos with additional hypothetical sterile neutrino flavors using the Double Chooz experiment. The search is based on data from 5 years of operation of Double Chooz, including 2 years in the two-detector configuration. The analysis is based on a profile likelihood, i.e.\ comparing the data to the model prediction of disappearance in a data-to-data comparison of the two respective detectors. The analysis is optimized for a model of three active and one sterile neutrino. It is sensitive in the typical mass range $5 \cdot 10^{-3} $ eV$^2 \lesssim Δm^2_{41} \lesssim 3\cdot 10^{-1} $ eV$^2$ for mixing angles down to $\sin^2 2θ_{14} \gtrsim 0.02$. No significant disappearance additionally to the conventional disappearance related to $θ_{13} $ is observed and correspondingly exclusion bounds on the sterile mixing parameter $θ_{14} $ as function of $ Δm^2_{41} $ are obtained.
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Submitted 19 July, 2021; v1 submitted 11 September, 2020;
originally announced September 2020.
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The Hyper-Kamiokande Experiment -- Snowmass LOI
Authors:
Hyper-Kamiokande Collaboration,
:,
K. Abe,
P. Adrich,
H. Aihara,
R. Akutsu,
I. Alekseev,
A. Ali,
F. Ameli,
L. H. V. Anthony,
A. Araya,
Y. Asaoka,
V. Aushev,
I. Bandac,
M. Barbi,
G. Barr,
M. Batkiewicz-Kwasniak,
M. Bellato,
V. Berardi,
L. Bernard,
E. Bernardini,
L. Berns,
S. Bhadra,
J. Bian,
A. Blanchet
, et al. (366 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Hyper-Kamiokande is the next generation underground water Cherenkov detector that builds on the highly successful Super-Kamiokande experiment. The detector which has an 8.4~times larger effective volume than its predecessor will be located along the T2K neutrino beamline and utilize an upgraded J-PARC beam with 2.6~times beam power. Hyper-K's low energy threshold combined with the very large fiduc…
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Hyper-Kamiokande is the next generation underground water Cherenkov detector that builds on the highly successful Super-Kamiokande experiment. The detector which has an 8.4~times larger effective volume than its predecessor will be located along the T2K neutrino beamline and utilize an upgraded J-PARC beam with 2.6~times beam power. Hyper-K's low energy threshold combined with the very large fiducial volume make the detector unique, that is expected to acquire an unprecedented exposure of 3.8~Mton$\cdot$year over a period of 20~years of operation. Hyper-Kamiokande combines an extremely diverse science program including nucleon decays, long-baseline neutrino oscillations, atmospheric neutrinos, and neutrinos from astrophysical origins. The scientific scope of this program is highly complementary to liquid-argon detectors for example in sensitivity to nucleon decay channels or supernova detection modes. Hyper-Kamiokande construction has started in early 2020 and the experiment is expected to start operations in 2027. The Hyper-Kamiokande collaboration is presently being formed amongst groups from 19 countries including the United States, whose community has a long history of making significant contributions to the neutrino physics program in Japan. US physicists have played leading roles in the Kamiokande, Super-Kamiokande, EGADS, K2K, and T2K programs.
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Submitted 1 September, 2020;
originally announced September 2020.
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Reactor Rate Modulation oscillation analysis with two detectors in Double Chooz
Authors:
Double Chooz Collaboration,
T. Abrahão,
H. Almazan,
J. C. dos Anjos,
S. Appel,
I. Bekman,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
T. Brugière,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
M. Cerrada,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
J. V. Dawson,
Z. Djurcic,
A. Etenko,
H. Furuta,
I. Gil-Botella,
L. F. G. Gonzalez,
M. C. Goodman,
T. Hara,
D. Hellwig
, et al. (62 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
A $θ_{13}$ oscillation analysis based on the observed antineutrino rates at the Double Chooz far and near detectors for different reactor power conditions is presented. This approach provides a so far unique simultaneous determination of $θ_{13}$ and the total background rates without relying on any assumptions on the specific background contributions. The analysis comprises 865 days of data colle…
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A $θ_{13}$ oscillation analysis based on the observed antineutrino rates at the Double Chooz far and near detectors for different reactor power conditions is presented. This approach provides a so far unique simultaneous determination of $θ_{13}$ and the total background rates without relying on any assumptions on the specific background contributions. The analysis comprises 865 days of data collected in both detectors with at least one reactor in operation. The oscillation results are enhanced by the use of 24.06 days (12.74 days) of reactor-off data in the far (near) detector. The analysis considers the \nue interactions up to a visible energy of 8.5 MeV, using the events at higher energies to build a cosmogenic background model considering fast-neutrons interactions and $^{9}$Li decays. The background-model-independent determination of the mixing angle yields sin$^2(2θ_{13})=0.094\pm0.017$, being the best-fit total background rates fully consistent with the cosmogenic background model. A second oscillation analysis is also performed constraining the total background rates to the cosmogenic background estimates. While the central value is not significantly modified due to the consistency between the reactor-off data and the background estimates, the addition of the background model reduces the uncertainty on $θ_{13}$ to 0.015. Along with the oscillation results, the normalization of the anti-neutrino rate is measured with a precision of 0.86\%, reducing the 1.43\% uncertainty associated to the expectation.
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Submitted 3 December, 2020; v1 submitted 27 July, 2020;
originally announced July 2020.
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Evaluation of Gadolinium's Action on Water Cherenkov Detector Systems with EGADS
Authors:
Ll. Marti,
M. Ikeda,
Y. Kato,
Y. Kishimoto,
M. Nakahata,
Y. Nakajima,
Y. Nakano,
S. Nakayama,
Y. Okajima,
A. Orii,
G. Pronost,
H. Sekiya,
M. Shiozawa,
H. Tanaka,
K. Ueno,
S. Yamada,
T. Yano,
T. Yokozawa,
M. Murdoch,
J. Schuemann,
M. R. Vagins,
K. Bays,
G. Carminati,
N. J. Griskevich,
W. R. Kropp
, et al. (43 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Used for both proton decay searches and neutrino physics, large water Cherenkov (WC) detectors have been very successful tools in particle physics. They are notable for their large masses and charged particle detection capabilities. While current WC detectors reconstruct charged particle tracks over a wide energy range, they cannot efficiently detect neutrons. Gadolinium (Gd) has the largest therm…
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Used for both proton decay searches and neutrino physics, large water Cherenkov (WC) detectors have been very successful tools in particle physics. They are notable for their large masses and charged particle detection capabilities. While current WC detectors reconstruct charged particle tracks over a wide energy range, they cannot efficiently detect neutrons. Gadolinium (Gd) has the largest thermal neutron capture cross section of all stable nuclei and produces an 8 MeV gamma cascade that can be detected with high efficiency. Because of the many new physics opportunities that neutron tagging with a Gd salt dissolved in water would open up, a large-scale R&D program called EGADS was established to demonstrate this technique's feasibility. EGADS features all the components of a WC detector, chiefly a 200-ton stainless steel water tank furnished with 240 photo-detectors, DAQ, and a water system that removes all impurities in water while keeping Gd in solution. In this paper we discuss the milestones towards demonstrating the feasibility of this novel technique, and the features of EGADS in detail.
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Submitted 26 February, 2020; v1 submitted 30 August, 2019;
originally announced August 2019.
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Development of new radon monitoring systems in the Kamioka mine
Authors:
Guillaume Pronost,
Motoyasu Ikeda,
Taku Nakamura,
Hiroyuki Sekiya,
Shigeki Tasaka
Abstract:
Radioactivity from radon is a major threat for high-precision low energy physics experiments like the ones in the Kamioka Mine. We developed a new high sensitive radon monitoring system and conducted systematic radon concentration measurements for the first time in Kamioka. The system consists of portable radon detectors with a capacity of 1 L and new electronics based on Raspberry Pi. These radon…
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Radioactivity from radon is a major threat for high-precision low energy physics experiments like the ones in the Kamioka Mine. We developed a new high sensitive radon monitoring system and conducted systematic radon concentration measurements for the first time in Kamioka. The system consists of portable radon detectors with a capacity of 1 L and new electronics based on Raspberry Pi. These radon detectors measure the radon in air with electro-static collection and a PIN photodiode. We measured the absolute humidity dependence of the 1-L radon detector for air to be $C_{F} (A_{H}) = (12.86 \pm 0.40) - (1.66 \pm 0.19) \sqrt{A_{H}}$ $\mathrm{(counts/day)/(Bq/m^3)}$. The background level of the 1-L radon detector is $0.65\pm0.15$ (stat.) count/day. This corresponds to a detection limit of $\sim0.4$ Bq/m$^3$ in a one-day measurement. Data was collected for a period of more than one year with twenty one 1-L radon detectors in the Kamioka mine. They indicate seasonal and day-night variations in radon concentration within the mine. These results also allow us to confirm the stability of the new Raspberry Pi electronics.
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Submitted 3 June, 2019; v1 submitted 29 July, 2018;
originally announced July 2018.
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Hyper-Kamiokande Design Report
Authors:
Hyper-Kamiokande Proto-Collaboration,
:,
K. Abe,
Ke. Abe,
H. Aihara,
A. Aimi,
R. Akutsu,
C. Andreopoulos,
I. Anghel,
L. H. V. Anthony,
M. Antonova,
Y. Ashida,
V. Aushev,
M. Barbi,
G. J. Barker,
G. Barr,
P. Beltrame,
V. Berardi,
M. Bergevin,
S. Berkman,
L. Berns,
T. Berry,
S. Bhadra,
D. Bravo-Berguño,
F. d. M. Blaszczyk
, et al. (291 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
On the strength of a double Nobel prize winning experiment (Super)Kamiokande and an extremely successful long baseline neutrino programme, the third generation Water Cherenkov detector, Hyper-Kamiokande, is being developed by an international collaboration as a leading worldwide experiment based in Japan. The Hyper-Kamiokande detector will be hosted in the Tochibora mine, about 295 km away from th…
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On the strength of a double Nobel prize winning experiment (Super)Kamiokande and an extremely successful long baseline neutrino programme, the third generation Water Cherenkov detector, Hyper-Kamiokande, is being developed by an international collaboration as a leading worldwide experiment based in Japan. The Hyper-Kamiokande detector will be hosted in the Tochibora mine, about 295 km away from the J-PARC proton accelerator research complex in Tokai, Japan. The currently existing accelerator will be steadily upgraded to reach a MW beam by the start of the experiment. A suite of near detectors will be vital to constrain the beam for neutrino oscillation measurements. A new cavern will be excavated at the Tochibora mine to host the detector. The experiment will be the largest underground water Cherenkov detector in the world and will be instrumented with new technology photosensors, faster and with higher quantum efficiency than the ones in Super-Kamiokande. The science that will be developed will be able to shape the future theoretical framework and generations of experiments. Hyper-Kamiokande will be able to measure with the highest precision the leptonic CP violation that could explain the baryon asymmetry in the Universe. The experiment also has a demonstrated excellent capability to search for proton decay, providing a significant improvement in discovery sensitivity over current searches for the proton lifetime. The atmospheric neutrinos will allow to determine the neutrino mass ordering and, together with the beam, able to precisely test the three-flavour neutrino oscillation paradigm and search for new phenomena. A strong astrophysical programme will be carried out at the experiment that will detect supernova neutrinos and will measure precisely solar neutrino oscillation.
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Submitted 28 November, 2018; v1 submitted 9 May, 2018;
originally announced May 2018.
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Yields and production rates of cosmogenic $^9$Li and $^8$He measured with the Double Chooz near and far detectors
Authors:
H. de Kerret,
T. Abrahão,
H. Almazan,
J. C. dos Anjos,
S. Appel,
J. C. Barriere,
I. Bekman,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
T. Brugière,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
M. Cerrada,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
O. Corpace,
J. V. Dawson,
Z. Djurcic,
A. Etenko,
D. Franco,
H. Furuta,
I. Gil-Botella,
A. Givaudan
, et al. (73 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The yields and production rates of the radioisotopes $^9$Li and $^8$He created by cosmic muon spallation on $^{12}$C, have been measured by the two detectors of the Double Chooz experiment. The identical detectors are located at separate sites and depths, which means they are subject to different muon spectra. The near (far) detector has an overburden of $\sim$120 m.w.e. ($\sim$300 m.w.e.) corresp…
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The yields and production rates of the radioisotopes $^9$Li and $^8$He created by cosmic muon spallation on $^{12}$C, have been measured by the two detectors of the Double Chooz experiment. The identical detectors are located at separate sites and depths, which means they are subject to different muon spectra. The near (far) detector has an overburden of $\sim$120 m.w.e. ($\sim$300 m.w.e.) corresponding to a mean muon energy of $32.1\pm2.0\,\mathrm{GeV}$ ($63.7\pm5.5\,\mathrm{GeV}$). Comparing the data to a detailed simulation of the $^9$Li and $^8$He decays, the contribution of the $^8$He radioisotope at both detectors is found to be compatible with zero. The observed $^9$Li yields in the near and far detectors are $5.51\pm0.51$ and $7.90\pm0.51$, respectively, in units of $10^{-8}μ^{-1} \mathrm{g^{-1} cm^{2} }$. The shallow overburdens of the near and far detectors give a unique insight when combined with measurements by KamLAND and Borexino to give the first multi--experiment, data driven relationship between the $^9$Li yield and the mean muon energy according to the power law $Y = Y_0( <E_μ >/ 1\,\mathrm{GeV})^{\overlineα}$, giving $\overlineα=0.72\pm0.06$ and $Y_0=(0.43\pm0.11)\times 10^{-8}μ^{-1} \mathrm{g^{-1} cm^{2}}$. This relationship gives future liquid scintillator based experiments the ability to predict their cosmogenic $^9$Li background rates.
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Submitted 10 October, 2018; v1 submitted 22 February, 2018;
originally announced February 2018.
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Performance of a full scale prototype detector at the BR2 reactor for the SoLid experiment
Authors:
Y. Abreu,
Y. Amhis,
L. Arnold,
G. Ban,
W. Beaumont,
M. Bongrand,
D. Boursette,
B. C. Castle,
K. Clark,
B. Coupé,
D. Cussans,
A. De Roeck,
J. D'Hondt,
D. Durand,
M. Fallot,
L. Ghys,
L. Giot,
B. Guillon,
S. Ihantola,
X. Janssen,
S. Kalcheva,
L. N. Kalousis,
E. Koonen,
M. Labare,
G. Lehaut
, et al. (26 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The SoLid collaboration has developed a new detector technology to detect electron anti-neutrinos at close proximity to the Belgian BR2 reactor at surface level. A 288$\,$kg prototype detector was deployed in 2015 and collected data during the operational period of the reactor and during reactor shut-down. Dedicated calibration campaigns were also performed with gamma and neutron sources.
This p…
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The SoLid collaboration has developed a new detector technology to detect electron anti-neutrinos at close proximity to the Belgian BR2 reactor at surface level. A 288$\,$kg prototype detector was deployed in 2015 and collected data during the operational period of the reactor and during reactor shut-down. Dedicated calibration campaigns were also performed with gamma and neutron sources.
This paper describes the construction of the prototype detector with a high control on its proton content and the stability of its operation over a period of several months after deployment at the BR2 reactor site. All detector cells provide sufficient light yields to achieve a target energy resolution of better than 20%/$\sqrt{E(MeV)}$. The capability of the detector to track muons is exploited to equalize the light response of a large number of channels to a precision of 3% and to demonstrate the stability of the energy scale over time. Particle identification based on pulse-shape discrimination is demonstrated with calibration sources. Despite a lower neutron detection efficiency due to triggering constraints, the main backgrounds at the reactor site were determined and taken into account in the shielding strategy for the main experiment. The results obtained with this prototype proved essential in the design optimization of the final detector.
This paper is dedicated to our SCK$\cdot$CEN colleague, Edgar Koonen, who passed away unexpectedly in 2017. Edgar was part of the SoLid collaboration since its inception and his efforts were vital to get the experiment started. He will be duly missed.
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Submitted 12 April, 2018; v1 submitted 8 February, 2018;
originally announced February 2018.
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Novel event classification based on spectral analysis of scintillation waveforms in Double Chooz
Authors:
T. Abrahão,
H. Almazan,
J. C. dos Anjos,
S. Appel,
I. Bekman,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
T. Brugière,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
L. Camilleri,
M. Cerrada,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
O. Corpace,
J. I. Crespo-Anadón,
J. V. Dawson,
Z. Djurcic,
A. Etenko,
M. Fallot,
D. Franco,
H. Furuta,
I. Gil-Botella
, et al. (72 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Liquid scintillators are a common choice for neutrino physics experiments, but their capabilities to perform background rejection by scintillation pulse shape discrimination is generally limited in large detectors. This paper describes a novel approach for a pulse shape based event classification developed in the context of the Double Chooz reactor antineutrino experiment. Unlike previous implemen…
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Liquid scintillators are a common choice for neutrino physics experiments, but their capabilities to perform background rejection by scintillation pulse shape discrimination is generally limited in large detectors. This paper describes a novel approach for a pulse shape based event classification developed in the context of the Double Chooz reactor antineutrino experiment. Unlike previous implementations, this method uses the Fourier power spectra of the scintillation pulse shapes to obtain event-wise information. A classification variable built from spectral information was able to achieve an unprecedented performance, despite the lack of optimization at the detector design level. Several examples of event classification are provided, ranging from differentiation between the detector volumes and an efficient rejection of instrumental light noise, to some sensitivity to the particle type, such as stopping muons, ortho-positronium formation, alpha particles as well as electrons and positrons. In combination with other techniques the method is expected to allow for a versatile and more efficient background rejection in the future, especially if detector optimization is taken into account at the design level.
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Submitted 18 January, 2018; v1 submitted 11 October, 2017;
originally announced October 2017.
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A novel segmented-scintillator antineutrino detector
Authors:
Y. Abreu,
Y. Amhis,
L. Arnold,
G. Ban,
W. Beaumont,
M. Bongrand,
D. Boursette,
J. M. Buhour,
B. C. Castle,
K. Clark,
B. Coupé,
A. S. Cucoanes,
D. Cussans,
A. De Roeck,
J. DHondt,
D. Durand,
M. Fallot,
S. Fresneau,
L. Ghys,
L. Giot,
B. Guillon,
G. Guilloux,
S. Ihantola,
X. Janssen,
S. Kalcheva
, et al. (31 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The next generation of very-short-baseline reactor experiments will require compact detectors operating at surface level and close to a nuclear reactor. This paper presents a new detector concept based on a composite solid scintillator technology. The detector target uses cubes of polyvinyltoluene interleaved with $^6$LiF:ZnS(Ag) phosphor screens to detect the products of the inverse beta decay re…
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The next generation of very-short-baseline reactor experiments will require compact detectors operating at surface level and close to a nuclear reactor. This paper presents a new detector concept based on a composite solid scintillator technology. The detector target uses cubes of polyvinyltoluene interleaved with $^6$LiF:ZnS(Ag) phosphor screens to detect the products of the inverse beta decay reaction. A multi-tonne detector system built from these individual cells can provide precise localisation of scintillation signals, making efficient use of the detector volume. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that a neutron capture efficiency of over 70% is achievable with a sufficient number of $^6$LiF:ZnS(Ag) screens per cube and that an appropriate segmentation enables a measurement of the positron energy which is not limited by gamma-ray leakage. First measurements of a single cell indicate that a very good neutron-gamma discrimination and high neutron detection efficiency can be obtained with adequate triggering techniques. The light yield from positron signals has been measured, showing that an energy resolution of 14%/$\sqrt{E({\mathrm{MeV}})}$ is achievable with high uniformity. A preliminary neutrino signal analysis has been developed, using selection criteria for pulse shape, energy, time structure and energy spatial distribution and showing that an antineutrino efficiency of 40% can be achieved. It also shows that the fine segmentation of the detector can be used to significantly decrease both correlated and accidental backgrounds.
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Submitted 31 May, 2017; v1 submitted 5 March, 2017;
originally announced March 2017.
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Cosmic-muon characterization and annual modulation measurement with Double Chooz detectors
Authors:
T. Abrahão,
H. Almazan,
J. C. dos Anjos,
S. Appel,
E. Baussan,
I. Bekman,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
T. Brugière,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
L. Camilleri,
R. Carr,
M. Cerrada,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
O. Corpace,
J. I. Crespo-Anadón,
J. V. Dawson,
J. Dhooghe,
Z. Djurcic,
M. Dracos,
A. Etenko
, et al. (85 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
A study on cosmic muons has been performed for the two identical near and far neutrino detectors of the Double Chooz experiment, placed at $\sim$120 and $\sim$300 m.w.e. underground respectively, including the corresponding simulations using the MUSIC simulation package. This characterization has allowed to measure the muon flux reaching both detectors to be (3.64 $\pm$ 0.04) $\times$ 10$^{-4}$ cm…
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A study on cosmic muons has been performed for the two identical near and far neutrino detectors of the Double Chooz experiment, placed at $\sim$120 and $\sim$300 m.w.e. underground respectively, including the corresponding simulations using the MUSIC simulation package. This characterization has allowed to measure the muon flux reaching both detectors to be (3.64 $\pm$ 0.04) $\times$ 10$^{-4}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ for the near detector and (7.00 $\pm$ 0.05) $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$ for the far one. The seasonal modulation of the signal has also been studied observing a positive correlation with the atmospheric temperature, leading to an effective temperature coefficient of $α_{T}$ = 0.212 $\pm$ 0.024 and 0.355 $\pm$ 0.019 for the near and far detectors respectively. These measurements, in good agreement with expectations based on theoretical models, represent one of the first measurements of this coefficient in shallow depth installations.
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Submitted 13 February, 2017; v1 submitted 23 November, 2016;
originally announced November 2016.
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Physics Potentials with the Second Hyper-Kamiokande Detector in Korea
Authors:
Hyper-Kamiokande proto-collaboration,
:,
K. Abe,
Ke. Abe,
S. H. Ahn,
H. Aihara,
A. Aimi,
R. Akutsu,
C. Andreopoulos,
I. Anghel,
L. H. V. Anthony,
M. Antonova,
Y. Ashida,
V. Aushev,
M. Barbi,
G. J. Barker,
G. Barr,
P. Beltrame,
V. Berardi,
M. Bergevin,
S. Berkman,
L. Berns,
T. Berry,
S. Bhadra,
D. Bravo-Bergu no
, et al. (331 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Hyper-Kamiokande consists of two identical water-Cherenkov detectors of total 520~kt with the first one in Japan at 295~km from the J-PARC neutrino beam with 2.5$^{\textrm{o}}$ Off-Axis Angles (OAAs), and the second one possibly in Korea in a later stage. Having the second detector in Korea would benefit almost all areas of neutrino oscillation physics mainly due to longer baselines. There are sev…
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Hyper-Kamiokande consists of two identical water-Cherenkov detectors of total 520~kt with the first one in Japan at 295~km from the J-PARC neutrino beam with 2.5$^{\textrm{o}}$ Off-Axis Angles (OAAs), and the second one possibly in Korea in a later stage. Having the second detector in Korea would benefit almost all areas of neutrino oscillation physics mainly due to longer baselines. There are several candidate sites in Korea with baselines of 1,000$\sim$1,300~km and OAAs of 1$^{\textrm{o}}$$\sim$3$^{\textrm{o}}$. We conducted sensitivity studies on neutrino oscillation physics for a second detector, either in Japan (JD $\times$ 2) or Korea (JD + KD) and compared the results with a single detector in Japan. Leptonic CP violation sensitivity is improved especially when the CP is non-maximally violated. The larger matter effect at Korean candidate sites significantly enhances sensitivities to non-standard interactions of neutrinos and mass ordering determination. Current studies indicate the best sensitivity is obtained at Mt. Bisul (1,088~km baseline, $1.3^\circ$ OAA). Thanks to a larger (1,000~m) overburden than the first detector site, clear improvements to sensitivities for solar and supernova relic neutrino searches are expected.
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Submitted 26 March, 2018; v1 submitted 18 November, 2016;
originally announced November 2016.
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Characterization of the Spontaneous Light Emission of the PMTs used in the Double Chooz Experiment
Authors:
Double Chooz collaboration,
Y. Abe,
T. Abrahão,
H. Almazan,
C. Alt,
S. Appel,
E. Baussan,
I. Bekman,
M. Bergevin,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
T. Brugière,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
E. Calvo,
L. Camilleri,
R. Carr,
M. Cerrada,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
A. P. Collin,
E. Conover,
J. M. Conrad
, et al. (124 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
During the commissioning of the first of the two detectors of the Double Chooz experiment, an unexpected and dominant background caused by the emission of light inside the optical volume has been observed. A specific study of the ensemble of phenomena called "Light Noise" has been carried out in-situ, and in an external laboratory, in order to characterize the signals and to identify the possible…
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During the commissioning of the first of the two detectors of the Double Chooz experiment, an unexpected and dominant background caused by the emission of light inside the optical volume has been observed. A specific study of the ensemble of phenomena called "Light Noise" has been carried out in-situ, and in an external laboratory, in order to characterize the signals and to identify the possible processes underlying the effect. Some mechanisms of instrumental noise originating from the PMTs were identified and it has been found that the leading one arises from the light emission localized on the photomultiplier base and produced by the combined effect of heat and high voltage across the transparent epoxy resin covering the electric components. The correlation of the rate and the amplitude of the signal with the temperature has been observed. For the first detector in operation the induced background has been mitigated using online and offline analysis selections based on timing and light pattern of the signals, while a modification of the photomultiplier assembly has been implemented for the second detector in order to blacken the PMT bases.
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Submitted 17 August, 2016; v1 submitted 23 April, 2016;
originally announced April 2016.
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Antineutrino emission and gamma background characteristics from a thermal research reactor
Authors:
V. M. Bui,
L. Giot,
M. Fallot,
V. Communeau,
S. Cormon,
M. Estienne,
M. Lenoir,
N. Peuvrel,
T. Shiba,
A. S. Cucoanes,
M. Elnimr,
J. Martino,
A. Onillon,
A. Porta,
G. Pronost,
A. Remoto,
N. Thiolliere,
F. Yermia,
A. -A. Zakari-Issoufou
Abstract:
The detailed understanding of the antineutrino emission from research reactors is mandatory for any high sensitivity experiments either for fundamental or applied neutrino physics, as well as a good control of the gamma and neutron backgrounds induced by the reactor operation. In this article, the antineutrino emission associated to a thermal research reactor: the OSIRIS reactor located in Saclay,…
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The detailed understanding of the antineutrino emission from research reactors is mandatory for any high sensitivity experiments either for fundamental or applied neutrino physics, as well as a good control of the gamma and neutron backgrounds induced by the reactor operation. In this article, the antineutrino emission associated to a thermal research reactor: the OSIRIS reactor located in Saclay, France, is computed in a first part. The calculation is performed with the summation method, which sums all the contributions of the beta decay branches of the fission products, coupled for the first time with a complete core model of the OSIRIS reactor core. The MCNP Utility for Reactor Evolution code was used, allowing to take into account the contributions of all beta decayers in-core. This calculation is representative of the isotopic contributions to the antineutrino flux which can be found at research reactors with a standard 19.75\% enrichment in $^{235}$U. In addition, the required off-equilibrium corrections to be applied to converted antineutrino energy spectra of uranium and plutonium isotopes are provided. In a second part, the gamma energy spectrum emitted at the core level is provided and could be used as an input in the simulation of any reactor antineutrino detector installed at such research facilities. Furthermore, a simulation of the core surrounded by the pool and the concrete shielding of the reactor has been developed in order to propagate the emitted gamma rays and neutrons from the core. The origin of these gamma rays and neutrons is discussed and the associated energy spectrum of the photons transported after the concrete walls is displayed.
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Submitted 24 February, 2016;
originally announced February 2016.
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Muon capture on light isotopes in Double Chooz
Authors:
Double Chooz collaboration,
Y. Abe,
T. Abrahão,
H. Almazan,
C. Alt,
S. Appel,
J. C. Barriere,
E. Baussan,
I. Bekman,
M. Bergevin,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
T. Brugière,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
L. Camilleri,
R. Carr,
M. Cerrada,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
A. P. Collin,
E. Conover,
J. M. Conrad
, et al. (122 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
Using the Double Chooz detector, designed to measure the neutrino mixing angle $θ_{13}$, the products of $μ^-$ capture on $^{12}$C, $^{13}$C, $^{14}$N and $^{16}$O have been measured. Over a period of 489.5 days, $2.3\times10^6$ stopping cosmic $μ^-$ have been collected, of which $1.8\times10^5$ captured on carbon, nitrogen, or oxygen nuclei in the inner detector scintillator or acrylic vessels. T…
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Using the Double Chooz detector, designed to measure the neutrino mixing angle $θ_{13}$, the products of $μ^-$ capture on $^{12}$C, $^{13}$C, $^{14}$N and $^{16}$O have been measured. Over a period of 489.5 days, $2.3\times10^6$ stopping cosmic $μ^-$ have been collected, of which $1.8\times10^5$ captured on carbon, nitrogen, or oxygen nuclei in the inner detector scintillator or acrylic vessels. The resulting isotopes were tagged using prompt neutron emission (when applicable), the subsequent beta decays, and, in some cases, $β$-delayed neutrons. The most precise measurement of the rate of $^{12}\mathrm C(μ^-,ν)^{12}\mathrm B$ to date is reported: $6.57^{+0.11}_{-0.21}\times10^{3}\,\mathrm s^{-1}$, or $(17.35^{+0.35}_{-0.59})\%$ of nuclear captures. By tagging excited states emitting gammas, the ground state transition rate to $^{12}$B has been determined to be $5.68^{+0.14}_{-0.23}\times10^3\,\mathrm s^{-1}$. The heretofore unobserved reactions $^{12}\mathrm C(μ^-,να)^{8}\mathrm{Li}$, $^{13}\mathrm C(μ^-,ν\mathrm nα)^{8}\mathrm{Li}$, and $^{13}\mathrm C(μ^-,ν\mathrm n)^{12}\mathrm B$ are measured. Further, a population of $β$n decays following stopping muons is identified with $5.5σ$ significance. Statistics limit our ability to identify these decays definitively. Assuming negligible production of $^{8}$He, the reaction $^{13}\mathrm C(μ^-,να)^{9}\mathrm{Li}$ is found to be present at the $2.7σ$ level. Limits are set on a variety of other processes.
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Submitted 17 May, 2016; v1 submitted 23 December, 2015;
originally announced December 2015.
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Measurement of $θ_{13}$ in Double Chooz using neutron captures on hydrogen with novel background rejection techniques
Authors:
Y. Abe,
S. Appel,
T. Abrahão,
H. Almazan,
C. Alt,
J. C. dos Anjos,
J. C. Barriere,
E. Baussan,
I. Bekman,
M. Bergevin,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
T. Brugière,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
L. Camilleri,
R. Carr,
M. Cerrada,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
A. P. Collin,
J. M. Conrad,
J. I. Crespo-Anadón
, et al. (120 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The Double Chooz collaboration presents a measurement of the neutrino mixing angle $θ_{13}$ using reactor $\overlineν_{e}$ observed via the inverse beta decay reaction in which the neutron is captured on hydrogen. This measurement is based on 462.72 live days data, approximately twice as much data as in the previous such analysis, collected with a detector positioned at an average distance of 1050…
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The Double Chooz collaboration presents a measurement of the neutrino mixing angle $θ_{13}$ using reactor $\overlineν_{e}$ observed via the inverse beta decay reaction in which the neutron is captured on hydrogen. This measurement is based on 462.72 live days data, approximately twice as much data as in the previous such analysis, collected with a detector positioned at an average distance of 1050m from two reactor cores. Several novel techniques have been developed to achieve significant reductions of the backgrounds and systematic uncertainties. Accidental coincidences, the dominant background in this analysis, are suppressed by more than an order of magnitude with respect to our previous publication by a multi-variate analysis. These improvements demonstrate the capability of precise measurement of reactor $\overlineν_{e}$ without gadolinium loading. Spectral distortions from the $\overlineν_{e}$ reactor flux predictions previously reported with the neutron capture on gadolinium events are confirmed in the independent data sample presented here. A value of $\sin^{2}2θ_{13} = 0.095^{+0.038}_{-0.039}$(stat+syst) is obtained from a fit to the observed event rate as a function of the reactor power, a method insensitive to the energy spectrum shape. A simultaneous fit of the hydrogen capture events and of the gadolinium capture events yields a measurement of $\sin^{2}2θ_{13} = 0.088\pm0.033$(stat+syst).
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Submitted 28 December, 2015; v1 submitted 29 October, 2015;
originally announced October 2015.
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Ortho-positronium observation in the Double Chooz Experiment
Authors:
Y. Abe,
J. C. dos Anjos,
J. C. Barriere,
E. Baussan,
I. Bekman,
M. Bergevin,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
E. Caden,
L. Camilleri,
R. Carr,
M. Cerrada,
P. -J. Chang,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
A. P. Collin,
E. Conover,
J. M. Conrad,
J. I. Crespo-Anadon,
K. Crum,
A. S. Cucoanes
, et al. (121 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The Double Chooz experiment measures the neutrino mixing angle $θ_{13}$ by detecting reactor $\barν_e$ via inverse beta decay. The positron-neutron space and time coincidence allows for a sizable background rejection, nonetheless liquid scintillator detectors would profit from a positron/electron discrimination, if feasible in large detector, to suppress the remaining background. Standard particle…
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The Double Chooz experiment measures the neutrino mixing angle $θ_{13}$ by detecting reactor $\barν_e$ via inverse beta decay. The positron-neutron space and time coincidence allows for a sizable background rejection, nonetheless liquid scintillator detectors would profit from a positron/electron discrimination, if feasible in large detector, to suppress the remaining background. Standard particle identification, based on particle dependent time profile of photon emission in liquid scintillator, can not be used given the identical mass of the two particles. However, the positron annihilation is sometimes delayed by the ortho-positronium (o-Ps) metastable state formation, which induces a pulse shape distortion that could be used for positron identification. In this paper we report on the first observation of positronium formation in a large liquid scintillator detector based on pulse shape analysis of single events. The o-Ps formation fraction and its lifetime were measured, finding the values of 44$\%$ $\pm$ 12$\%$ (sys.) $\pm$ 5$\%$ (stat.) and $3.68$ns $\pm$ 0.17ns (sys.) $\pm$ 0.15ns (stat.) respectively, in agreement with the results obtained with a dedicated positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy setup.
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Submitted 7 October, 2014; v1 submitted 25 July, 2014;
originally announced July 2014.
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Improved measurements of the neutrino mixing angle $θ_{13}$ with the Double Chooz detector
Authors:
Y. Abe,
J. C. dos Anjos,
J. C. Barriere,
E. Baussan,
I. Bekman,
M. Bergevin,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
E. Caden,
L. Camilleri,
R. Carr,
M. Cerrada,
P. -J. Chang,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
A. P. Collin,
E. Conover,
J. M. Conrad,
J. I. Crespo-Anadón,
K. Crum,
A. S. Cucoanes
, et al. (121 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
The Double Chooz experiment presents improved measurements of the neutrino mixing angle $θ_{13}$ using the data collected in 467.90 live days from a detector positioned at an average distance of 1050 m from two reactor cores at the Chooz nuclear power plant. Several novel techniques have been developed to achieve significant reductions of the backgrounds and systematic uncertainties with respect t…
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The Double Chooz experiment presents improved measurements of the neutrino mixing angle $θ_{13}$ using the data collected in 467.90 live days from a detector positioned at an average distance of 1050 m from two reactor cores at the Chooz nuclear power plant. Several novel techniques have been developed to achieve significant reductions of the backgrounds and systematic uncertainties with respect to previous publications, whereas the efficiency of the $\barν_{e}$ signal has increased. The value of $θ_{13}$ is measured to be $\sin^{2}2θ_{13} = 0.090 ^{+0.032}_{-0.029}$ from a fit to the observed energy spectrum. Deviations from the reactor $\barν_{e}$ prediction observed above a prompt signal energy of 4 MeV and possible explanations are also reported. A consistent value of $θ_{13}$ is obtained from a fit to the observed rate as a function of the reactor power independently of the spectrum shape and background estimation, demonstrating the robustness of the $θ_{13}$ measurement despite the observed distortion.
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Submitted 21 January, 2015; v1 submitted 30 June, 2014;
originally announced June 2014.
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Precision Muon Reconstruction in Double Chooz
Authors:
Double Chooz collaboration,
Y. Abe,
J. C. dos Anjos,
J. C. Barriere,
E. Baussan,
I. Bekman,
M. Bergevin,
T. J. C. Bezerra,
L. Bezrukov,
E. Blucher,
C. Buck,
J. Busenitz,
A. Cabrera,
E. Caden,
L. Camilleri,
R. Carr,
M. Cerrada,
P. -J. Chang,
E. Chauveau,
P. Chimenti,
A. P. Collin,
E. Conover,
J. M. Conrad,
J. I. Crespo-Anadón,
K. Crum
, et al. (119 additional authors not shown)
Abstract:
We describe a muon track reconstruction algorithm for the reactor anti-neutrino experiment Double Chooz. The Double Chooz detector consists of two optically isolated volumes of liquid scintillator viewed by PMTs, and an Outer Veto above these made of crossed scintillator strips. Muons are reconstructed by their Outer Veto hit positions along with timing information from the other two detector volu…
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We describe a muon track reconstruction algorithm for the reactor anti-neutrino experiment Double Chooz. The Double Chooz detector consists of two optically isolated volumes of liquid scintillator viewed by PMTs, and an Outer Veto above these made of crossed scintillator strips. Muons are reconstructed by their Outer Veto hit positions along with timing information from the other two detector volumes. All muons are fit under the hypothesis that they are through-going and ultrarelativistic. If the energy depositions suggest that the muon may have stopped, the reconstruction fits also for this hypothesis and chooses between the two via the relative goodness-of-fit. In the ideal case of a through-going muon intersecting the center of the detector, the resolution is ~40 mm in each transverse dimension. High quality muon reconstruction is an important tool for reducing the impact of the cosmogenic isotope background in Double Chooz.
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Submitted 15 August, 2014; v1 submitted 23 May, 2014;
originally announced May 2014.