42 research outputs found
On burning ground: theatre of the oppressed and ecological crisis in Bolivia
No abstract available
Final results of Borexino Phase-I on low energy solar neutrino spectroscopy
Borexino has been running since May 2007 at the LNGS with the primary goal of
detecting solar neutrinos. The detector, a large, unsegmented liquid
scintillator calorimeter characterized by unprecedented low levels of intrinsic
radioactivity, is optimized for the study of the lower energy part of the
spectrum. During the Phase-I (2007-2010) Borexino first detected and then
precisely measured the flux of the 7Be solar neutrinos, ruled out any
significant day-night asymmetry of their interaction rate, made the first
direct observation of the pep neutrinos, and set the tightest upper limit on
the flux of CNO neutrinos. In this paper we discuss the signal signature and
provide a comprehensive description of the backgrounds, quantify their event
rates, describe the methods for their identification, selection or subtraction,
and describe data analysis. Key features are an extensive in situ calibration
program using radioactive sources, the detailed modeling of the detector
response, the ability to define an innermost fiducial volume with extremely low
background via software cuts, and the excellent pulse-shape discrimination
capability of the scintillator that allows particle identification. We report a
measurement of the annual modulation of the 7 Be neutrino interaction rate. The
period, the amplitude, and the phase of the observed modulation are consistent
with the solar origin of these events, and the absence of their annual
modulation is rejected with higher than 99% C.L. The physics implications of
phase-I results in the context of the neutrino oscillation physics and solar
models are presented
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Spectroscopy of geo-neutrinos from 2056 days of Borexino data
We report an improved geo-neutrino measurement with Borexino from 2056 days
of data taking. The present exposure is
protonyr. Assuming a chondritic Th/U mass ratio of 3.9, we obtain geo-neutrino events. The null
observation of geo-neutrinos with Borexino alone has a probability of (5.9). A geo-neutrino signal from the mantle is
obtained at 98\% C.L. The radiogenic heat production for U and Th from the
present best-fit result is restricted to the range 23-36 TW, taking into
account the uncertainty on the distribution of heat producing elements inside
the Earth.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Measurement of neutrino flux from the primary proton--proton fusion process in the Sun with Borexino detector
Neutrino produced in a chain of nuclear reactions in the Sun starting from
the fusion of two protons, for the first time has been detected in a real-time
detector in spectrometric mode. The unique properties of the Borexino detector
provided an oppurtunity to disentangle pp-neutrino spectrum from the background
components. A comparison of the total neutrino flux from the Sun with Solar
luminosity in photons provides a test of the stability of the Sun on the
10 years time scale, and sets a strong limit on the power production in
the unknown energy sources in the Sun of no more than 4\% of the total energy
production at 90\% C.L.Comment: 15 pages, 2 tables, 3 figure
Borexino calibrations: Hardware, Methods, and Results
Borexino was the first experiment to detect solar neutrinos in real-time in
the sub-MeV region. In order to achieve high precision in the determination of
neutrino rates, the detector design includes an internal and an external
calibration system. This paper describes both calibration systems and the
calibration campaigns that were carried out in the period between 2008 and
2011. We discuss some of the results and show that the calibration procedures
preserved the radiopurity of the scintillator. The calibrations provided a
detailed understanding of the detector response and led to a significant
reduction of the systematic uncertainties in the Borexino measurements
Borexino's search for low-energy neutrinos associated with gravitational wave events from GWTC-3 database
The search for neutrino events in correlation with gravitational wave (GW)
events for three observing runs (O1, O2 and O3) from 09/2015 to 03/2020 has
been performed using the Borexino data-set of the same period. We have searched
for signals of neutrino-electron scattering with visible energies above 250 keV
within a time window of 1000 s centered at the detection moment of a particular
GW event. The search was done with three visible energy thresholds of 0.25, 0.8
and 3.0 MeV.Two types of incoming neutrino spectra were considered: the
mono-energetic line and the spectrum expected from supernovae. The same spectra
were considered for electron antineutrinos detected through inverse beta-decay
(IBD) reaction. GW candidates originated by merging binaries of black holes
(BHBH), neutron stars (NSNS) and neutron star and black hole (NSBH) were
analysed separately. Additionally, the subset of most intensive BHBH mergers at
closer distances and with larger radiative mass than the rest was considered.
In total, follow-ups of 74 out of 93 gravitational waves reported in the GWTC-3
catalog were analyzed and no statistically significant excess over the
background was observed. As a result, the strongest upper limits on
GW-associated neutrino and antineutrino fluences for all flavors (\nu_e,
\nu_\mu, \nu_\tau) have been obtained in the (0.5 - 5.0) MeV neutrino energy
range.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
Cosmogenic Backgrounds in Borexino at 3800 m water-equivalent depth
The solar neutrino experiment Borexino, which is located in the Gran Sasso
underground laboratories, is in a unique position to study muon-induced
backgrounds in an organic liquid scintillator. In this study, a large sample of
cosmic muons is identified and tracked by a muon veto detector external to the
liquid scintillator, and by the specific light patterns observed when muons
cross the scintillator volume. The yield of muon-induced neutrons is found to
be Yn =(3.10+-0.11)10-4 n/({\mu} (g/cm2)). The distance profile between the
parent muon track and the neutron capture point has the average value {\lambda}
= (81.5 +- 2.7)cm. Additionally the yields of a number of cosmogenic
radioisotopes are measured for 12N, 12B, 8He, 9C, 9Li, 8B, 6He, 8Li, 11Be, 10C
and 11C. All results are compared with Monte Carlo simulation predictions using
the Fluka and Geant4 packages. General agreement between data and simulation is
observed for the cosmogenic production yields with a few exceptions, the most
prominent case being 11C yield for which both codes return about 50% lower
values. The predicted {\mu}-n distance profile and the neutron multiplicity
distribution are found to be overall consistent with data.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures (in 14 files), 4 tables. 3 extra data files.
accepted by JCA
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Borexino : geo-neutrino measurement at Gran Sasso, Italy
Geo-neutrinos, electron anti-neutrinos produced in beta-decays of naturally occurring radioactive isotopes in the Earth, are a unique direct probe of our planet's interior. After a brief introduction of the geo-neutrinos' properties and of the main aims of their study, we discuss the features of a detector which has recently provided breakthrough achievements in the field, Borexino, a massive, calorimetric liquid scintillator detector installed at the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory. With its unprecedented radiopurity levels achieved in the core of the detection medium, it is the only experiment in operation able to study in real time solar neutrino interactions in the challenging sub-MeV energy region. Its superior technical properties allowed Borexino also to provide a clean detection of terrestrial neutrinos. Therefore, the description of the characteristics of the detected geo-neutrino signal and of the corresponding geological implications are the main core of the discussion contained in this work
Quantum gravity phenomenology at the dawn of the multi-messenger era—A review
The exploration of the universe has recently entered a new era thanks to the multi-messenger paradigm, characterized by a continuous increase in the quantity and quality of experimental data that is obtained by the detection of the various cosmic messengers (photons, neutrinos, cosmic rays and gravitational waves) from numerous origins. They give us information about their sources in the universe and the properties of the intergalactic medium. Moreover, multi-messenger astronomy opens up the possibility to search for phenomenological signatures of quantum gravity. On the one hand, the most energetic events allow us to test our physical theories at energy regimes which are not directly accessible in accelerators; on the other hand, tiny effects in the propagation of very high energy particles could be amplified by cosmological distances. After decades of merely theoretical investigations, the possibility of obtaining phenomenological indications of Planck-scale effects is a revolutionary step in the quest for a quantum theory of gravity, but it requires cooperation between different communities of physicists (both theoretical and experimental). This review, prepared within the COST Action CA18108 “Quantum gravity phenomenology in the multi-messenger approach”, is aimed at promoting this cooperation by giving a state-of-the art account of the interdisciplinary expertise that is needed in the effective search of quantum gravity footprints in the production, propagation and detection of cosmic messengers.publishedVersio