246 research outputs found
European underground laboratories: An overview
Underground laboratories are complementary to those where the research in
fundamental physics is made using accelerators. This report focus on the
logistic and on the background features of the most relevant laboratories in
Europe, stressing also on the low background facilities available. In
particular the report is focus on the laboratories involved in the new
Europeean project ILIAS with the aim to support the European large
infrastructures operating in the astroparticle physics area.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, Invited talk: Topical Workshop in Low
Radioactivity Techniques (Sudbury, Canada) December 12-14, 2004. To be
publish in AIP conference proceeding
Neutrinos and (Anti)neutrinos from Supernovae and from the Earth in the Borexino detector
The main goal of the Borexino detector, in its final phase of construction in
the Gran Sasso underground laboratory, is the direct observation and
measurement of the low energy component of neutrinos coming from the Sun. The
unique low energy sensitivity and ultra-low background bring new capabilities
to attack problems in neutrino physiscs other than solar ones. Investigation
about the study of Supernoavae neutrinos and neutrino coming from the Earth
(Geoneutrinos) are here resumed.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, proceedings of the The 1st Yamada Symposium on
Neutrinos and Dark Matter in Nuclear Physics June 9-14, 2003, Nara Japa
Borexino: A real time liquid scintillator detector for low energy solar neutrino study
Borexino is a large unsegmented calorimeter featuring 300 tons of liquid
scintillator, contained in a 8.5 meter nylon vessel, viewed by 2200 PMTs. The
main goal of Borexino is the study, in real time, of low energy solar
neutrinos, and in particular, the monoenergetic neutrinos coming from ,
which is one of the missing links on the solar neutrino problem. The
achievement of high radiopurity level, in the order of of U/Th
equivalent, necessary to the detection of the low energy component of the solar
neutrino flux, was proved in the Borexino prototype: the Counting Test
Facility. The detector is located underground in the Laboratori Nazionali del
Gran Sasso in the center of Italy at 3500 meter water equivalent depth. In this
paper the science and technology of Borexino are reviewed and its main
capabilities are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 10th International Conference on Calorimetry in
High Energy Physics. http://3w.hep.caltech.edu/calor02
Solar Neutrino Physics: historical evolution, present status and perspectives
Solar neutrino physics is an exciting and difficult field of research for
physicists, where astrophysics, elementary particle and nuclear physics meet. \
The Sun produces the energy that life has been using on Earth for many years,
about y, emits a lot of particles: protons, electrons, ions,
electromagnetic quanta... among them neutrinos play an important role allowing
to us to check our knowledge on solar characteristics. The main aim of this
paper is to offer a practical overview of various aspects concerning the solar
neutrino physics: after a short historical excursus, the different detection
techniques and present experimental results and problems are analysed.
Moreover, the status of art of solar modeling, possible solutions to the so
called solar neutrino problem (SNP) and planned detectors are reviewed.Comment: 139 pages, 42 figure
Advancements in solar neutrino physics
We review the results of solar neutrino physics, with particular attention to
the data obtained and the analyses performed in the last decades, which were
determinant to solve the solar neutrino problem (SNP), proving that neutrinos
are massive and oscillating particles and contributing to refine the solar
models. We also discuss the perspectives of the presently running experiments
in this sector and of the ones planned for the near future and the impact they
can have on elementary particle physics and astrophysics.Comment: 15 page
Solar neutrino detection
More than 40 years ago, neutrinos where conceived as a way to test the
validity of the solar models which tell us that stars are powered by nuclear
fusion reactions. The first measurement of the neutrino flux, in 1968 in the
Homestake mine in South Dakota, detected only one third of the expected value,
originating what has been known as the Solar Neutrino Problem. Different
experiments were built in order to understand the origin of this discrepancy.
Now we know that neutrinos undergo oscillation phenomenon changing their nature
traveling from the core of the Sun to our detectors. In the work the 40 year
long saga of the neutrino detection is presented; from the first proposals to
test the solar models to last real time measurements of the low energy part of
the neutrino spectrum.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. III School on Cosmic Rays and Astrophysics August
25 to September 5, 2008 Arequipa (Peru) AIP conference proceedin
Fabrication of quencher-free liquid scintillator-based, high-activity Rn calibration sources for the Borexino detector
A reliable and consistently reproducible technique to fabricate
Rn-loaded radioactive sources (0.5-1 kBq just after fabrication)
based on liquid scintillator (LS), with negligible amounts of LS quencher
contaminants, was implemented. This work demonstrates the process that will be
used during the Borexino detector's upcoming calibration campaign, with one or
several 100 Bq such sources will be deployed at different positions in
its fiducial volume, currently showing unprecedented levels of radiopurity.
These sources need to fulfill stringent requirements of Rn activity,
transparency to the radiations of interest and complete removability from the
detector to ensure their impact on Borexino's radiopurity is negligible.
Moreover, the need for a clean, undistorted spectral signal for the
calibrations imposes a tight requirement to minimize quenching agents
("quenchers") to null or extremely low levels
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