67 research outputs found
The capability of the existing network of installations for detecting the antineutrino burst from collapsing stars
As the neutrino fluxes can bring information from the internal layers of the collapsing star, the problem of the neutrino burst detection is of importance for both the direct registering of the collapse itself and the investigation of its dynamics. The main characteristics of the neutrino fluxes have been obtained by simulations. The total neutrino flux energy is estimated as 2.5 x 10 to the 53 to 1.4 x 10 to the 54 erg, the energy of NU sub E flux being 10 to the 53 erg. Predictions on neutrino energy spectra are quite different. Two models of the collapse will be used: the model by Bowers and Wilson, hereafter BW, and the model by Nadyozhin and Otroschenko (NO). The NU sub e spectrum in the BW-model reaches the maximum at E max sub NU = 8 MeV. Average energy of NU sub E E sub nu approx. = 10 MeV. The NO-model gives E max sub Nu = 10.5 MeV and E sub nu = 12.6 MeV. The NU sub E-burst duration is DELTA tau sub NU = 20s for the NO-model. As the black hole formation is the result of the star collapse in the BW-model, DELTA tau sub nu is taken to be 5s
Muon-Induced Background Study for Underground Laboratories
We provide a comprehensive study of the cosmic-ray muon flux and induced
activity as a function of overburden along with a convenient parameterization
of the salient fluxes and differential distributions for a suite of underground
laboratories ranging in depth from 1 to 8 km.w.e.. Particular attention
is given to the muon-induced fast neutron activity for the underground sites
and we develop a Depth-Sensitivity-Relation to characterize the effect of such
background in experiments searching for WIMP dark matter and neutrinoless
double beta decay.Comment: 18 pages, 28 figure
Predicting Neutron Production from Cosmic-ray Muons
Fast neutrons from cosmic-ray muons are an important background to
underground low energy experiments. The estimate of such background is often
hampered by the difficulty of measuring and calculating neutron production with
sufficient accuracy. Indeed substantial disagreement exists between the
different analytical calculations performed so far, while data reported by
different experiments is not always consistent. We discuss a new unified
approach to estimate the neutron yield, the energy spectrum, the multiplicity
and the angular distribution from cosmic muons using the Monte Carlo simulation
package FLUKA and show that it gives a good description of most of the existing
measurements once the appropriate corrections have been applied.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
A New Approach to Background Subtraction in Low-Energy Neutrino Experiments
We discuss a new method to extract neutrino signals in low energy
experiments. In this scheme the symmetric nature of most backgrounds allows for
direct cancellation from data. The application of this technique to the Palo
Verde reactor neutrino oscillation experiment allowed us to reduce the
measurement errors on the anti-neutrino flux from % to %. We
expect this method to substantially improve the data quality in future low
background experiments such as KamLAND and LENS.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
Neutron production by cosmic-ray muons at shallow depth
The yield of neutrons produced by cosmic ray muons at a shallow depth of 32
meters of water equivalent has been measured. The Palo Verde neutrino detector,
containing 11.3 tons of Gd loaded liquid scintillator and 3.5 tons of acrylic
served as a target. The rate of one and two neutron captures was determined.
Modeling the neutron capture efficiency allowed us to deduce the total yield of
neutrons neutrons per muon
and g/cm. This yield is consistent with previous measurements at similar
depths.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Exclusion Limits on the WIMP-Nucleon Cross-Section from the First Run of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search in the Soudan Underground Lab
The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS-II) employs low-temperature Ge and Si
detectors to seek Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) via their
elastic scattering interactions with nuclei. Simultaneous measurements of both
ionization and phonon energy provide discrimination against interactions of
background particles. For recoil energies above 10 keV, events due to
background photons are rejected with >99.99% efficiency. Electromagnetic events
very near the detector surface can mimic nuclear recoils because of reduced
charge collection, but these surface events are rejected with >96% efficiency
by using additional information from the phonon pulse shape. Efficient use of
active and passive shielding, combined with the the 2090 m.w.e. overburden at
the experimental site in the Soudan mine, makes the background from neutrons
negligible for this first exposure. All cuts are determined in a blind manner
from in situ calibrations with external radioactive sources without any prior
knowledge of the event distribution in the signal region. Resulting
efficiencies are known to ~10%. A single event with a recoil of 64 keV passes
all of the cuts and is consistent with the expected misidentification rate of
surface-electron recoils. Under the assumptions for a standard dark matter
halo, these data exclude previously unexplored parameter space for both
spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering. The
resulting limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic-scattering
cross-section has a minimum of 4x10^-43 cm^2 at a WIMP mass of 60 GeV/c^2. The
minimum of the limit for the spin-dependent WIMP-neutron elastic-scattering
cross-section is 2x10^-37 cm^2 at a WIMP mass of 50 GeV/c^2.Comment: 37 pages, 42 figure
Study of single muons with the Large Volume Detector at Gran Sasso Laboratory
The present study is based on the sample of about 3 mln single muons observed
by LVD at underground Gran Sasso Laboratory during 36500 live hours from June
1992 to February 1998. We have measured the muon intensity at slant depths from
3 km w.e. to 20 km w.e. Most events are high energy downward muons produced by
meson decay in the atmosphere. The analysis of these muons has revealed the
power index of pion and kaon spectrum: 2.76 \pm 0.05. The reminders are
horizontal muons produced by the neutrino interactions in the rock surrounding
LVD. The value of this flux is obtained. The results are compared with Monte
Carlo simulations and the world data.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in "Physics of Atomic
Nuclei
Fluxes of atmospheric muons underwater depending on the small-x gluon density
The prompt muon contribution to the deep-sea atmospheric muon flux can serve
as a tool for probing into the small-x feature of the gluon density inside of a
nucleon, if the muon energy threshold could be lifted to 100 TeV. The prompt
muon flux underwater is calculated taking into consideration predictions of
recent charm production models in which the small-x behaviour of the gluon
distribution is probed. We discuss the possibility of distinguishing the PQCD
models of the charm production differing in the small-x exponent of the gluon
distribution, in measurements of the muon flux at energies 10-100 TeV with
neutrino telescopes.Comment: 9 pages, 4 eps figures, uses iopart.st
Muon `Depth -- Intensity' Relation Measured by LVD Underground Experiment and Cosmic-Ray Muon Spectrum at Sea Level
We present the analysis of the muon events with all muon multiplicities
collected during 21804 hours of operation of the first LVD tower. The measured
angular distribution of muon intensity has been converted to the `depth --
vertical intensity' relation in the depth range from 3 to 12 km w.e.. The
analysis of this relation allowed to derive the power index, , of the
primary all-nucleon spectrum: . The `depth -- vertical
intensity' relation has been converted to standard rock and the comparison with
the data of other experiments has been done. We present also the derived
vertical muon spectrum at sea level.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to be published on Phys. Rev.
Upper Limit on the Prompt Muon Flux Derived from the LVD Underground Experiment
We present the analysis of the muon events with all muon multiplicities
collected during 21804 hours of operation of the first LVD tower. The measured
depth-angular distribution of muon intensities has been used to obtain the
normalization factor, A, the power index, gamma, of the primary all-nucleon
spectrum and the ratio, R_c, of prompt muon flux to that of pi-mesons - the
main parameters which determine the spectrum of cosmic ray muons at the sea
level. The value of gamma = 2.77 +/- 0.05 (68% C.L.) and R_c < 2.0 x 10^-3 (95%
C.L.) have been obtained. The upper limit to the prompt muon flux favours the
models of charm production based on QGSM and the dual parton model.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, RevTex. To appear in Phys. Rev.
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