Fast neutron background characterization of the future Ricochet experiment at the ILL research nuclear reactor

the Ricochet Collaboration

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-11150-x

Fast neutron background characterization of the future Ricochet experiment at the ILL research nuclear reactor

the Ricochet Collaboration

Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

The future Ricochet experiment aims at searching for new physics in the electroweak sector by providing a high precision measurement of the Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CENNS) process down to the sub-100 eV nuclear recoil energy range. The experiment will deploy a kg-scale low-energy-threshold detector array combining Ge and Zn target crystals 8.8 m away from the 58 MW research nuclear reactor core of the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France. Currently, the Ricochet Collaboration is characterizing the backgrounds at its future experimental site in order to optimize the experiment’s shielding design. The most threatening background component, which cannot be actively rejected by particle identification, consists of keV-scale neutron-induced nuclear recoils. These initial fast neutrons are generated by the reactor core and surrounding experiments (reactogenics), and by the cosmic rays producing primary neutrons and muon-induced neutrons in the surrounding materials. In this paper, we present the Ricochet neutron background characterization using ³He proportional counters which exhibit a high sensitivity to thermal, epithermal and fast neutrons. We compare these measurements to the Ricochet Geant4 simulations to validate our reactogenic and cosmogenic neutron background estimations. Eventually, we present our estimated neutron background for the future Ricochet experiment and the resulting CENNS detection significance. Our results show that depending on the effectiveness of the muon veto, we expect a total nuclear recoil background rate between 44 ± 3 and 9 ± 2 events/day/kg in the CENNS region of interest, i.e. between 50 eV and 1 keV. We therefore found that the Ricochet experiment should reach a statistical significance of 4.6 to 13.6 σ for the detection of CENNS after one reactor cycle, when only the limiting neutron background is considered.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	20
Journal	European Physical Journal C
Volume	83
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-11150-x
State	Published - Jan 2023

Funding

We are grateful to the EDELWEISS Collaboration for the use of its electronics and DAQ system in the operation of the RED20 and RED80 cryogenic detectors discussed in Sect. . We are also thankful to Jacques Marteau for his help in operating and analysing the data from the muon panels of his muography research team in IP2I. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement ERC-StG-CENNS 803079, the French National Research Agency (ANR) within the project ANR-20-CE31-0006, the LabEx Lyon Institute of Origins (ANR-10-LABX-0066) of the Université de Lyon, the NSF under Grant PHY-2013203. A portion of the work carried out at MIT was supported by DOE QuantISED award DE-SC0020181 and the Heising-Simons Foundation. This work is also partly supported by the Ministry of science and higher education of the Russian Federation (the contract no. 075-15-2020-778).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Engineering (miscellaneous)
Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-11150-x

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@article{7bbbdd8e418240efae2bf62e782b5122,

title = "Fast neutron background characterization of the future Ricochet experiment at the ILL research nuclear reactor",

abstract = "The future Ricochet experiment aims at searching for new physics in the electroweak sector by providing a high precision measurement of the Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CENNS) process down to the sub-100 eV nuclear recoil energy range. The experiment will deploy a kg-scale low-energy-threshold detector array combining Ge and Zn target crystals 8.8 m away from the 58 MW research nuclear reactor core of the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France. Currently, the Ricochet Collaboration is characterizing the backgrounds at its future experimental site in order to optimize the experiment{\textquoteright}s shielding design. The most threatening background component, which cannot be actively rejected by particle identification, consists of keV-scale neutron-induced nuclear recoils. These initial fast neutrons are generated by the reactor core and surrounding experiments (reactogenics), and by the cosmic rays producing primary neutrons and muon-induced neutrons in the surrounding materials. In this paper, we present the Ricochet neutron background characterization using 3He proportional counters which exhibit a high sensitivity to thermal, epithermal and fast neutrons. We compare these measurements to the Ricochet Geant4 simulations to validate our reactogenic and cosmogenic neutron background estimations. Eventually, we present our estimated neutron background for the future Ricochet experiment and the resulting CENNS detection significance. Our results show that depending on the effectiveness of the muon veto, we expect a total nuclear recoil background rate between 44 ± 3 and 9 ± 2 events/day/kg in the CENNS region of interest, i.e. between 50 eV and 1 keV. We therefore found that the Ricochet experiment should reach a statistical significance of 4.6 to 13.6 σ for the detection of CENNS after one reactor cycle, when only the limiting neutron background is considered.",

author = "{the Ricochet Collaboration} and C. Augier and G. Baulieu and V. Belov and L. Berge and J. Billard and G. Bres and Bret, {J. L.} and A. Broniatowski and M. Calvo and A. Cazes and D. Chaize and M. Chapellier and L. Chaplinsky and G. Chemin and R. Chen and J. Colas and {De Jesus}, M. and {de Marcillac}, P. and L. Dumoulin and O. Exshaw and S. Ferriol and E. Figueroa-Feliciano and Filippini, {J. B.} and Formaggio, {J. A.} and S. Fuard and J. Gascon and A. Giuliani and J. Goupy and C. Goy and C. Guerin and E. Guy and P. Harrington and Heine, {S. T.} and Hertel, {S. A.} and M. Heusch and Hirjibehedin, {C. F.} and Z. Hong and Ianigro, {J. C.} and Y. Jin and Johnston, {J. P.} and A. Juillard and D. Karaivanov and S. Kazarcev and J. Lamblin and H. Lattaud and M. Li and A. Lubashevskiy and S. Marnieros and Mayer, {D. W.} and J. Minet",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s).",

year = "2023",

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doi = "10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-11150-x",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "83",

journal = "European Physical Journal C",

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T1 - Fast neutron background characterization of the future Ricochet experiment at the ILL research nuclear reactor

AU - the Ricochet Collaboration

AU - Augier, C.

AU - Baulieu, G.

AU - Belov, V.

AU - Berge, L.

AU - Billard, J.

AU - Bres, G.

AU - Bret, J. L.

AU - Broniatowski, A.

AU - Calvo, M.

AU - Cazes, A.

AU - Chaize, D.

AU - Chapellier, M.

AU - Chaplinsky, L.

AU - Chemin, G.

AU - Chen, R.

AU - Colas, J.

AU - De Jesus, M.

AU - de Marcillac, P.

AU - Dumoulin, L.

AU - Exshaw, O.

AU - Ferriol, S.

AU - Figueroa-Feliciano, E.

AU - Filippini, J. B.

AU - Formaggio, J. A.

AU - Fuard, S.

AU - Gascon, J.

AU - Giuliani, A.

AU - Goupy, J.

AU - Goy, C.

AU - Guerin, C.

AU - Guy, E.

AU - Harrington, P.

AU - Heine, S. T.

AU - Hertel, S. A.

AU - Heusch, M.

AU - Hirjibehedin, C. F.

AU - Hong, Z.

AU - Ianigro, J. C.

AU - Jin, Y.

AU - Johnston, J. P.

AU - Juillard, A.

AU - Karaivanov, D.

AU - Kazarcev, S.

AU - Lamblin, J.

AU - Lattaud, H.

AU - Li, M.

AU - Lubashevskiy, A.

AU - Marnieros, S.

AU - Mayer, D. W.

AU - Minet, J.

PY - 2023/1

Y1 - 2023/1

N2 - The future Ricochet experiment aims at searching for new physics in the electroweak sector by providing a high precision measurement of the Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CENNS) process down to the sub-100 eV nuclear recoil energy range. The experiment will deploy a kg-scale low-energy-threshold detector array combining Ge and Zn target crystals 8.8 m away from the 58 MW research nuclear reactor core of the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France. Currently, the Ricochet Collaboration is characterizing the backgrounds at its future experimental site in order to optimize the experiment’s shielding design. The most threatening background component, which cannot be actively rejected by particle identification, consists of keV-scale neutron-induced nuclear recoils. These initial fast neutrons are generated by the reactor core and surrounding experiments (reactogenics), and by the cosmic rays producing primary neutrons and muon-induced neutrons in the surrounding materials. In this paper, we present the Ricochet neutron background characterization using 3He proportional counters which exhibit a high sensitivity to thermal, epithermal and fast neutrons. We compare these measurements to the Ricochet Geant4 simulations to validate our reactogenic and cosmogenic neutron background estimations. Eventually, we present our estimated neutron background for the future Ricochet experiment and the resulting CENNS detection significance. Our results show that depending on the effectiveness of the muon veto, we expect a total nuclear recoil background rate between 44 ± 3 and 9 ± 2 events/day/kg in the CENNS region of interest, i.e. between 50 eV and 1 keV. We therefore found that the Ricochet experiment should reach a statistical significance of 4.6 to 13.6 σ for the detection of CENNS after one reactor cycle, when only the limiting neutron background is considered.

AB - The future Ricochet experiment aims at searching for new physics in the electroweak sector by providing a high precision measurement of the Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CENNS) process down to the sub-100 eV nuclear recoil energy range. The experiment will deploy a kg-scale low-energy-threshold detector array combining Ge and Zn target crystals 8.8 m away from the 58 MW research nuclear reactor core of the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France. Currently, the Ricochet Collaboration is characterizing the backgrounds at its future experimental site in order to optimize the experiment’s shielding design. The most threatening background component, which cannot be actively rejected by particle identification, consists of keV-scale neutron-induced nuclear recoils. These initial fast neutrons are generated by the reactor core and surrounding experiments (reactogenics), and by the cosmic rays producing primary neutrons and muon-induced neutrons in the surrounding materials. In this paper, we present the Ricochet neutron background characterization using 3He proportional counters which exhibit a high sensitivity to thermal, epithermal and fast neutrons. We compare these measurements to the Ricochet Geant4 simulations to validate our reactogenic and cosmogenic neutron background estimations. Eventually, we present our estimated neutron background for the future Ricochet experiment and the resulting CENNS detection significance. Our results show that depending on the effectiveness of the muon veto, we expect a total nuclear recoil background rate between 44 ± 3 and 9 ± 2 events/day/kg in the CENNS region of interest, i.e. between 50 eV and 1 keV. We therefore found that the Ricochet experiment should reach a statistical significance of 4.6 to 13.6 σ for the detection of CENNS after one reactor cycle, when only the limiting neutron background is considered.

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U2 - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-11150-x

DO - 10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-11150-x

M3 - Article

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SN - 1434-6044

VL - 83

JO - European Physical Journal C

JF - European Physical Journal C

IS - 1

M1 - 20

ER -

Fast neutron background characterization of the future Ricochet experiment at the ILL research nuclear reactor

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