Measurement of Cosmic-ray Muons and Muon-induced Neutrons in the Aberdeen Tunnel Underground Laboratory
/ Authors
S. Blyth, Y. Chan, X. Chen, M. Chu, K. Cui, R. Hahn, T. Ho, Y. Hor, Y. Hsiung, B. Hu
and 24 more authors
K. Kwan, M. Kwok, T. Kwok, Y. Lau, K. P. Lee, J. Leung, K. Y. Leung, G. Lin, Y. Lin, K. Luk, W. H. Luk, H. Ngai, W. Ngai, S. Y. Ngan, C. Pun, K. Shih, Y. Tam, R. Tsang, C. Wang, C. Wong, Him Cheng Wong, Him Cheng Wong, K. K. Wong, M. Yeh
/ Abstract
In this study, we have measured the muon flux and production rate of muon-induced neutrons at a depth of 611 m water equivalent. Our apparatus comprises three layers of crossed plastic scintillator hodoscopes for tracking the incident cosmic-ray muons and 760 L of a gadolinium-doped liquid scintillator for producing and detecting neutrons. The vertical muon intensity was measured to be Iμ = (5.7±0.6)×10–6 cm–2 s–1 sr–1. The yield of muon-induced neutrons in the liquid scintillator was determined to be Yn = (1.19 ± 0.08(stat) ± 0.21(syst)) × 10–4 neutrons/(μ•g•cm–2). A fit to the recently measured neutron yields at different depths gave a mean muon energy dependence of 0.76±0.03 for liquid-scintillator targets.
Journal: Physical Review D