Speaker
Dr
Xianyi Zhang
(Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
Description
Cosmogenic backgrounds represent a challenge for many experiments vitally important to achieving P5 science drivers, from on-surface neutrino detectors, such as Fermilab’s SBN Program, to various deep-underground experiments, like DUNE and LZ. Characterization of neutron background is necessary in dark matter and astrophysical neutrino measurements. Neutrons created in beam dump and decay-in-flight neutrino sources also represent a critically under-studied background class that may prove cru- cial in future coherent neutrino scattering, decay-at-rest neutrino, and beam-based BSM measurements. The PROSPECT antineutrino detec- tor is a 4-ton optically segmented liquid scintillator detector deployed on-surface to detect antineutrinos from the High Flux Isotopic Reac- tor. To achieve the on-surface antineutrino measurement, topological event reconstruction and pulse shape discrimination are applicable in the PROSPECT detector. These advantages make the PROSPECT detector well-suited for use in performing precise characterizations of the cosmic backgrounds. Existing PROSPECT deployments and data are currently being used to provide new characterizations of on-surface cosmic neutron fluxes. This talk will describe PROSPECT’s simulation and measurement to characterize the cosmic backgrounds under ∼ 1 m.w.e. overburden.
Primary author
Dr
Xianyi Zhang
(Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
