arXiv subjects

L. Cadonati

Publications and source records attributed to L. Cadonati.

40 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2007

The Nylon Scintillator Containment Vessels for the Borexino Solar Neutrino Experiment

Borexino is a solar neutrino experiment designed to observe the 0.86 MeV Be-7 neutrinos emitted in the pp cycle of the sun. Neutrinos will be detected by their elastic scattering on electrons in 100 tons of liquid scintillator. The neutrino event rate in the scintillator is expected to be low (~0.35 events per day per ton), and the signals will be at energies below 1.5 MeV, where background from natural radioactivity is prominent. Scintillation light produced by the recoil electrons is observed by an array of 2240 photomultiplier tubes. Because of the intrinsic radioactive contaminants in these PMTs, the liquid scintillator is shielded from them by a thick barrier of buffer fluid. A spherical vessel made of thin nylon film contains the scintillator, separating it from the surrounding buffer. The buffer region itself is divided into two concentric shells by a second nylon vessel in order to prevent inward diffusion of radon atoms. The radioactive background requirements for Borexino are challenging to meet, especially for the scintillator and these nylon vessels. Besides meeting requirements for low radioactivity, the nylon vessels must also satisfy requirements for mechanical, optical, and chemical properties. The present paper describes the research and development, construction, and installation of the nylon vessels for the Borexino experiment.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2004

Cosmogenic 11C production and sensitivity of organic scintillator detectors to pep and CNO neutrinos

Several possible background sources determine the detectability of pep and CNO solar neutrinos in organic liquid scintillator detectors. Among such sources, the cosmogenic 11C nuclide plays a central role. 11C is produced underground in reactions induced by the residual cosmic muon flux. Experimental data available for the effective cross section for 11C by muons indicate that 11C will be the dominant source of background for the observation of pep and CNO neutrinos. 11C decays are expected to total a rate 2.5 (20) times higher than the combined rate of pep and CNO neutrinos in Borexino (KamLAND) in the energy window preferred for the pep measurement, between 0.8 and 1.3 MeV. This study examines the production mechanism of 11C by muon-induced showers in organic liquid scintillators with a novel approach: for the first time, we perform a detailed ab initio calculation of the production of a cosmogenic nuclide, 11C, taking into consideration all relevant production channels. Results of the calculation are compared with the effective cross sections measured by target experiments in muon beams. This paper also discusses a technique for reduction of background from 11C in organic liquid scintillator detectors, which allows to identify on a one-by-one basis and remove from the data set a large fraction of 11C decays. The background reduction technique hinges on an idea proposed by Martin Deutsch, who suggested that a neutron must be ejected in every interaction producing a 11C nuclide from 12C. 11C events are tagged by a three-fold coincidence with the parent muon track and the subsequent neutron capture on protons.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2004

Coherent Waveform Consistency Test for LIGO Burst Candidates

The burst search in LIGO relies on the coincident detection of transient signals in multiple interferometers. As only minimal assumptions are made about the event waveform or duration, the analysis pipeline requires loose coincidence in time, frequency and amplitude. Confidence in the resulting events and their waveform consistency is established through a time-domain coherent analysis: the r-statistic test. This paper presents a performance study of the r-statistic test for triple coincidence events in the second LIGO Science Run (S2), with emphasis on its ability to suppress the background false rate and its efficiency at detecting simulated bursts of different waveforms close to the S2 sensitivity curve.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2000

Supernova Neutrino Detection in Borexino

We calculated the expected neutrino signal in Borexino from a typical Type II supernova at a distance of 10 kpc. A burst of around 110 events would appear in Borexino within a time interval of about 10 s. Most of these events would come from the reaction channel $\barν_e+p\to e^++n$, while about 30 events would be induced by the interaction of the supernova neutrino flux on $^{12}$C in the liquid scintillator. Borexino can clearly distinguish between the neutral-current excitations $^{12}{C}(ν,ν')^{12}{C}^*$(15.11 MeV) and the charged-current reactions $^{12}{C}(ν_e,e^-)^{12}{N}$ and $^{12}{C}(\barν_e,e^+)^{12}{B}$, via their distinctive event signatures. The ratio of the charged-current to neutral-current neutrino event rates and their time profiles with respect to each other can provide a handle on supernova and non-standard neutrino physics (mass and flavor oscillations).

hep-ph↗