Stowell, P., Fargher, S., Thompson, L. orcid.org/0000-0001-6911-4776 et al. (2 more authors) (2022) Gadolinium loaded Cherenkov detectors for neutron monitoring in high energy air showers. Journal of Instrumentation, 17 (02). T02005. ISSN 1748-0221
Abstract
Monitoring of high energy cosmic ray neutrons is of particular interest for cosmic ray water Cherenkov detectors as intense bundles of delayed neutrons have been found to arrive after the initial passage of a high energy air shower. In this paper we explore the possibility of building large-area high-energy neutron monitors using gadolinium-loaded Water Cherenkov Detectors (WCDs). GEANT4 simulations of photon production in WCDs are used to estimate the maximum detection efficiency for a hypothetical system. Requiring a series of neutron induced gamma ray flashes distributed over an extended period of time (up to 20 μs) was shown to be an effective way to discriminate high energy neutron interactions from other backgrounds. Results suggest that neutron detection efficiencies of 4–15% may be possible using a gadolinium-loaded detection system above 200 MeV. The magnitude of gadolinium loading was also shown to significantly modify the timing response of the simulated detector.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd on behalf of Sissa Medialab. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. |
Keywords: | Detector modelling and simulations I (interaction of radiation with matter, interaction of photons with matter, interaction of hadrons with matter, etc); Large detector systems for particle and astroparticle physics; Hybrid detectors; Liquid detectors |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 23 Feb 2022 11:45 |
Last Modified: | 23 Feb 2022 11:46 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | IOP Publishing |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1088/1748-0221/17/02/T02005 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:183949 |