2013/02/28 by L. Reichhart, A. Lindote, D. Yu. Akimov +52 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmic ray #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Detector #Monte Carlo method #Muon #Muon capture #Neutron #Neutron temperature #Nuclear physics #Optics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies #Scintillator #hep-ex #physics.ins-det
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2013.06.002
published as Astroparticle Physics 47 (2013) 67-76 · 12 pages, 13 figures
openalex publication_date 2013/06/20 · arxiv created 2013/11/04 · arxiv updated 2015/06/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
A measurement is presented of the neutron production rate in lead by high energy cosmic-ray muons at a depth of 2850 m water equivalent (w.e.) and a mean muon energy of 260 GeV. The measurement exploits the delayed coincidences between muons and the radiative capture of induced neutrons in a highly segmented tonne scale plastic scintillator detector. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations reproduce well the measured capture times and multiplicities and, within the dynamic range of the instrumentation, the spectrum of energy deposits. By comparing measurements with simulations of neutron capture rates a neutron yield in lead of (5.78+0.21-0.28) x 10-3 neutrons/muon/(g/cm2) has been obtained. Absolute agreement between simulation and data is of order 25%. Consequences for deep underground rare event searches are discussed.