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arXiv · 1503.02095

Cosmogenic-neutron activation of TeO2 and implications for neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments

Barbara S. Wang·Eric B. Norman·Nicholas D. Scielzo·Alan R. Smith·Keenan J. Thomas·Stephen A. Wender
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Abstract

Flux-averaged cross sections for cosmogenic-neutron activation of natural tellurium were measured using a neutron beam containing neutrons of kinetic energies up to $\sim$800 MeV, and having an energy spectrum similar to that of cosmic-ray neutrons at sea-level. Analysis of the radioisotopes produced reveals that 110mAg will be a dominant contributor to the cosmogenic-activation background in experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 130Te, such as CUORE and SNO+. An estimate of the cosmogenic-activation background in the CUORE experiment has been obtained using the results of this measurement and cross-section measurements of proton activation of tellurium. Additionally, the measured cross sections in this work are also compared with results from semi-empirical cross-section calculations.

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Barbara S. Wang, Eric B. Norman, Nicholas D. Scielzo, Alan R. Smith, Keenan J. Thomas, Stephen A. Wender. 2015-03-06. Cosmogenic-neutron activation of TeO2 and implications for neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.92.024620

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