corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. D » Volume 62 » Issue 9
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. D 62, 092005 (2000) [6 pages]

Neutron production by cosmic-ray muons at shallow depth

Download: PDF (71 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

F. Boehm3, J. Busenitz1, B. Cook3, G. Gratta4, H. Henrikson3, J. Kornis1, D. Lawrence2, K. B. Lee3, K. McKinny1, L. Miller4, V. Novikov3, A. Piepke1,3, B. Ritchie2, D. Tracy4, P. Vogel3, Y-F. Wang4, and J. Wolf1 (Palo Verde Collaboration)
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487
2Department of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287
3Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125
4Physics Department, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305

Received 23 June 2000; published 12 October 2000

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/cm2. This yield is consistent with previous measurements at similar depths.

© 2000 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.62.092005
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.62.092005
PACS:
13.10.+q, 13.60.-r, 29.40.Mc, 98.70.Sa
 
< Previous Article | Next Article >