Neutron production by cosmic-ray muons at shallow depth

Creators: Boehm, F.; Busenitz, J.; Cook, B.; Gratta, G.; Henrikson, H.; Kornis, J.; Lawrence, D.; Lee, K. B.; McKinny, K.; Miller, L.; Novikov, V.; Piepke, A.; Ritchie, B.; Tracy, D.; Vogel, P.; Wang, Y.-F.; Wolf, J.; Palo-Verde Collaboration

Abstract

The yield of neutrons produced by cosmic ray muons at a shallow depth of 32 meters of water equivalent has been measured. The Palo Verde neutrino detector, containing 11.3 tons of Gd loaded liquid scintillator and 3.5 tons of acrylic, served as a target. The rate of one and two neutron captures was determined. Modeling the neutron capture efficiency allowed us to deduce the total yield of neutrons, Ytot=(3.60±0.09±0.31)×10^-5 neutrons per muon and g/cm^2. This yield is consistent with previous measurements at similar depths.

Additional Information

©2000 The American Physical Society Received 23 June 2000; published 12 October 2000 We would like to thank the Arizona Public Service Company for the generous hospitality provided at the Palo Verde plant. The important contributions of M. Chen, R. Hertenberger, K. Lou, and N. Mascarenhas in the early stages of this project are gratefully acknowledged. We also acknowledge generous financial help from the University of Alabama, Arizona State University, California Institute of Technology, and Stanford University. Finally, our gratitude goes to CERN, DESY, Fermilab, LANL, LLNL, SLAC, and TJNAF who at different times provided us with parts and equipment needed for the experiment. This project was supported in part by the U.S. DOE.

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