August 29, 2022 to September 4, 2022
America/New_York timezone

An update on muon-induced backgrounds in LEGEND-1000

Aug 30, 2022, 4:10 PM
20m
Palm Ballroom 3

Palm Ballroom 3

Parallel session talk Neutrino Masses and Neutrino Mixing Nu: Neutrino Masses and Neutrino Mixing

Speaker

Clay Barton (University of South Dakota)

Description

The LEGEND (Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless Double-beta decay) project will search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in $^{76}$Ge, aiming to operate at the ton-scale in its second phase (LEGEND-1000). LEGEND uses liquid argon as an active veto and as a radiopure bulk shield. Penetrating cosmic ray muons can cause showers in liquid argon, generating free neutrons which can scatter or capture in sensitive detectors, resulting in in-situ cosmogenic backgrounds. A pre-conceptual baseline design of LEGEND-1000 has been developed by the collaboration. Using Geant4 simulations, changes in the baseline ton-scale LEGEND configuration are modeled and the effects of each modification on the muon-induced background are evaluated. The neutron transport and physics are also validated using a suite of comparison simulations between Geant4 and MCNP, another particle simulation software. In this presentation, we will discuss the LEGEND-1000 baseline design, potential changes to the baseline to mitigate muon-induced backgrounds, and comparisons of these changes using simulations.

Primary author

Clay Barton (University of South Dakota)

Presentation materials