144 research outputs found
Background Studies for the Neutral Current Detector Array in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
An array of 3He-filled proportional counters will be used in the Sudbury
Neutrino Observatory to measure the neutral-current interaction of neutrinos
and deuterium. We describe the backgrounds to this detection method.Comment: Accepted for publication in the proceedings of TAUP99. 2 page
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An Object Oriented Software Bus
This paper describes a new approach to development of software for highly integrated software-hardware systems such as used for data acquisition and control. This approach, called the Object Oriented Software Bus (OSB), is a way to develop software according to a common specification similar to the way interface hardware has been developed since the advent of bus structures for minicomputers and microcomputers. Key concept of the OSB is extension of the common use of objects to support user interface and data analysis functions to the development of software objects that directly correspond to real- world hardware interfaces and modules
Validation of spallation neutron production and propagation within Geant4
Using simulations to understand backgrounds from muon-induced neutrons is
important in designing next-generation low-background underground experiments.
Validation of relevant physics within the Geant4 simulation package has been
completed by comparing to data from two recent experiments. Verification
focused on the production and propagation of neutrons at energies important to
underground experiments. Discrepancies were observed between experimental data
and the simulation. Techniques were explored to correct for these
discrepancies.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables, submitted to NIM A. 6 Aug 200
Arguments for a "U.S. Kamioka": SNOLab and its Implications for North American Underground Science Planning
We argue for a cost-effective, long-term North American underground science
strategy based on partnership with Canada and initial construction of a modest
U.S. Stage I laboratory designed to complement SNOLab. We show, by reviewing
the requirements of detectors now in the R&D phase, that SNOLab and a properly
designed U.S. Stage I facility would be capable of meeting the needs of North
America's next wave of underground experiments. We discuss one opportunity for
creating a Stage I laboratory, the Pioneer tunnel in Washington State, a site
that could be developed to provide dedicated, clean, horizontal access. This
unused tunnel, part of the deepest (1040 m) tunnel system in the U.S., would
allow the U.S. to establish, at low risk and low cost, a laboratory at a depth
(2.12 km.w.e., or kilometers of water equivalent) quite similar to that of the
Japanese laboratory Kamioka (2.04 km.w.e.). We describe studies of cosmic ray
attenuation important to properly locating such a laboratory, and the tunnel
improvements that would be required to produce an optimal Stage I facility. We
also discuss possibilities for far-future Stage II (3.62 km.w.e.) and Stage III
(5.00 km.w.e.) developments at the Pioneer tunnel, should future North American
needs for deep space exceed that available at SNOLab.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures; revised version includes discusion about
neutrino-factory magic baseline
Alpha Backgrounds for HPGe Detectors in Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Experiments
The Majorana Experiment will use arrays of enriched HPGe detectors to search
for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge. Such a decay, if found, would
show lepton-number violation and confirm the Majorana nature of the neutrino.
Searches for such rare events are hindered by obscuring backgrounds which must
be understood and mitigated as much as possible. A potentially important
background contribution to this and other double-beta decay experiments could
come from decays of alpha-emitting isotopes in the 232Th and 238U decay chains
on or near the surfaces of the detectors. An alpha particle emitted external to
an HPGe crystal can lose energy before entering the active region of the
detector, either in some external-bulk material or within the dead region of
the crystal. The measured energy of the event will only correspond to a partial
amount of the total kinetic energy of the alpha and might obscure the signal
from neutrinoless double-beta decay. A test stand was built and measurements
were performed to quantitatively assess this background. We present results
from these measurements and compare them to simulations using Geant4. These
results are then used to measure the alpha backgrounds in an underground
detector in situ. We also make estimates of surface contamination tolerances
for double-beta decay experiments using solid-state detectors.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, submitted to NIM
Measurement of airborne fission products in Chapel Hill, NC, USA from the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactor accident
We present measurements of airborne fission products in Chapel Hill, NC, USA,
from 62 days following the March 11, 2011, accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi
nuclear power plant. Airborne particle samples were collected daily in air
filters and radio-assayed with two high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors. The
fission products I-131 and Cs-137 were measured with maximum activities of 4.2
+/- 0.6 mBq/m^3 and 0.42 +/- 0.07 mBq/m^3 respectively. Additional activity
from I-131, I-132, Cs-134, Cs-136, Cs-137 and Te-132 were measured in the same
air filters using a low-background HPGe detector at the Kimballton Underground
Research Facility (KURF).Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Planck-Scale Physics and Neutrino Masses
We discuss gravitationally induced masses and mass splittings of Majorana,
Zeldovich-Konopinski-Mahmoud and Dirac neutrinos. Among other implications,
these effects can provide a solution of the solar neutrino puzzle. In
particular, we show how this may work in the 17 keV neutrino picture.Comment: 10 pages, IC/92/79, SISSA-83/92/EP, LMU-04/92 (the preprint number
has been corrected; no other changes
Planck scale effects in neutrino physics
We study the phenomenology and cosmology of the Majoron (flavon) models of
three active and one inert neutrino paying special attention to the possible
(almost) conserved generalization of the Zeldovich-Konopinski-Mahmoud lepton
charge. Using Planck scale physics effects which provide the breaking of the
lepton charge, we show how in this picture one can incorporate the solutions to
some of the central issues in neutrino physics such as the solar and
atmospheric neutrino puzzles, dark matter and a 17 keV neutrino. These
gravitational effects induce tiny Majorana mass terms for neutrinos and
considerable masses for flavons. The cosmological demand for the sufficiently
fast decay of flavons implies a lower limit on the electron neutrino mass in
the range of 0.1-1 eV.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figure (not included but available upon request), LaTex,
IC/92/196, SISSA-140/92/EP, LMU-09/9
Astroparticle Physics with a Customized Low-Background Broad Energy Germanium Detector
The MAJORANA Collaboration is building the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, a 60 kg
array of high purity germanium detectors housed in an ultra-low background
shield at the Sanford Underground Laboratory in Lead, SD. The MAJORANA
DEMONSTRATOR will search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge while
demonstrating the feasibility of a tonne-scale experiment. It may also carry
out a dark matter search in the 1-10 GeV/c^2 mass range. We have found that
customized Broad Energy Germanium (BEGe) detectors produced by Canberra have
several desirable features for a neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment,
including low electronic noise, excellent pulse shape analysis capabilities,
and simple fabrication. We have deployed a customized BEGe, the MAJORANA
Low-Background BEGe at Kimballton (MALBEK), in a low-background cryostat and
shield at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility in Virginia. This paper
will focus on the detector characteristics and measurements that can be
performed with such a radiation detector in a low-background environment.Comment: Submitted to NIMA Proceedings, SORMA XII. 9 pages, 4 figure
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