21-23 March 2022
HUELVA
Europe/Madrid timezone

HENSA/ANAIS: measuring the neutron flux at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory for dark matter purposes

21 Mar 2022, 17:30
15m
Red Temática de Física Nuclear (FNUC) Red FNUC (Red Temática de Física Nuclear)

Speaker

Nil Mont i Geli (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya)

Abstract

The High Efficiency Neutron Spectrometry Array (HENSA) is a detection system based on the Bonner Spheres principle [THO02]. In order to be sensitive at different energy ranges, HENSA is composed by ten independent long 3He-filled proportional counters embedded in High Density PolyEthylene (HDPE) moderators with different sizes. The neutron flux spectrum is unfolded from the experimental counting rates by means of appropriate reconstruction algorithms. Key to the reliability of the reconstruction process is the use of a priori information. This is typically achieved by means of Monte Carlo calculations or from previous measurements.

Early versions of HENSA have already been used for the characterization of the neutron background at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC), before the start of the scientific experiments [JOR13], and in the shallow underground facility Felsenkeller in Dresden [GRI20]. Currently, a long term characterization of the neutron flux is being carried out the LSC: in hall A from October 2019 [ORR21] and in hall B since March 2021 [MON21]. Measurements in hall B are foreseen during 2022 and 2023.

The HENSA/ANAIS collaboration aims for the precise determination of the neutron flux at hall B of the Canfranc Underground Laboratory, that could affect ANAIS-112, an experiment looking for the dark matter annual modulation using NaI scintillators [AMA21]. In this work we present and discuss the current status of the measurements in hall B of the LSC. In addition, FLUKA Monte Carlo calculations of the neutron flux spectrum at the LSC will be reported.

Acknowledgments
This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under grants FPA2017-83946-C2-1 & C2-2 , PID2019-104714GB-C21 & C22, PID2019-104374GB-I00 and RTI2018-098868-B-I00. We also acknowledge the Generalitat Valenciana Grant No. PROMETEO/2019/007.

[AMA21] J. Amaré et al., Physical Review D 103, (2021) 102005.
[GRI20] M. Grieger et al., Physical Review D 101 (2020) 123027.
[JOR13] D. Jordán et al., Astroparticle Physics 42 (2013) 1.
[MON22] N. Mont-Geli et al., Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2156 (2022) 012169.
[ORR22] S. E. A. Orrigo et al., Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2156 (2022) 012223.
[THO02] D.J. Thomas and A.V. Alevra, Nuclear Instruments and Methods A 476 (2002) 12–20.

Primary authors

Nil Mont i Geli (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) Nil Mont-Geli (Institut de Tècniques Energètiques (INTE), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC))

Co-authors

Ariel Tarifeño-Saldivia (Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC)) S.E.A. Orrigo (Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC)) Jose Luis Tain (Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC)) Marcel Grieger (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR)) Luis Mario Fraile (rupo de Física Nuclear & IPARCOS, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)) Guillem Cortés (Institut de Tècniques Energètiques (INTE), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)) Max Pallàs (Institut de Tècniques Energètiques (INTE), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)) Jorge Agramunt (Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC)) Alejandro Algora (Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC)) J. Amaré (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA), Universidad de Zaragoza) D. Bemmerer (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR)) Francisco Calviño (Institut de Tècniques Energètiques (INTE), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)) S. Cebrián (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA), Universidad de Zaragoza) D. Cintas (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA), Universidad de Zaragoza) I. Coarasa (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA), Universidad de Zaragoza) Alfredo De Blas (Institut de Tècniques Energètiques (INTE), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)) Iris Dillman (TRIUMF) E. Garcia (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA)) Roger Garcia (Institut de Tècniques Energètiques (INTE), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)) M. Martínez (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA)) Enrique Nácher (Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC)) Y. Ortigoza (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA)) Alfonso Ortiz de Solórzano (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA)) J. Puimedón (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA)) A. Salinas (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA)) M.L. Sarsa (Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías (CAPA)) Álvaro Tolosa-Delgado (Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC-Univ. Valencia)

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