Electromagnetic energy calibration of the SoLid detector with horizontal muons

Abstract

SoLid is a neutrino experiment at very-short baseline searching for active-to-sterile oscillations of reactor antineutrinos. The detection principle is based on the pairing of two types of solid scintillators: polyvinyl toluene and $^6$Li:ZnS(Ag), which is a new technology used in this field of Physics. In addition to good neutron-gamma discrimination, this setup allows the detector to be highly segmented; the basic detection unit is a 5 cm cube. High segmentation provides numerous advantages including precise localisation of the Inverse Beta Decay (IBD) products, the derivation of an antineutrino energy estimator based on the isolated positron energy, and a powerful background reduction tool that relies on the topological signature of the signal. Finally, the system is read out by a network of WLS fibres coupled to photosensors. A relative electromagnetic calibration is performed with horizontal cosmic muons. This source poses the simplest calibration problem in which a single detection unit is involved. In addition, large muon energy deposits allow us to perform a calibration at the most detailed level (i.e. per fibre) and to accurately define the fraction of energy escaping to neighbouring detection cells. A statistical precision at the sub-percent level is reached. The paper also discusses two methods to calibrate the absolute energy scale. The first method relies on horizontal muons, though the precision is limited to around 10\% because of the uncertainty in the energy distribution of such muons. A novel, alternative method based on the radioactive AmBe source is proposed. It takes advantage of the electron-positron pair-production process and provides a calibration point at 3.4 MeV (i.e. in the core of the IBD positron spectrum). The paper is concluded with various cross-check including a determination of the energy spectrum of the standard cosmogenic background candle: $^{12}$B.