Cosmogenic production of 37Ar in the context of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment

Abstract

We estimate the amount of 37Ar produced in natural xenon via cosmic ray-induced spallation, an inevitable consequence of the transportation and storage of xenon on the Earth's surface. We then calculate the resulting 37Ar concentration in a 10-tonne payload~(similar to that of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment) assuming a representative schedule of xenon purification, storage and delivery to the underground facility. Using the spallation model by Silberberg and Tsao, the sea level production rate of 37Ar in natural xenon is estimated to be 0.024~atoms/kg/day. Assuming the xenon is successively purified to remove radioactive contaminants in 1-tonne batches at a rate of 1~tonne/month, the average 37Ar activity after 10~tonnes are purified and transported underground is 0.058--0.090~μBq/kg, depending on the degree of argon removal during above-ground purification. Such cosmogenic 37Ar will appear as a noticeable background in the early science data, while decaying with a 35~day half-life. This newly-noticed production mechanism of 37Ar should be considered when planning for future liquid xenon-based experiments.

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Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Aalbers, J Akerib, DS Musalhi, AKA Alder, F Alsum, SK Amarasinghe, CS Ames, A Anderson, TJ Angelides, N Araújo, HM Armstrong, JE Arthurs, M Bai, X Baker, A Balajthy, J Balashov, S Bang, J Bargemann, JW Bauer, D Baxter, A Beattie, K Bernard, EP Bhatti, A Biekert, A Biesiadzinski, TP Birch, HJ Blockinger, GM Bodnia, E Boxer, B Brew, CAJ Brás, P Burdin, S Busenitz, JK Buuck, M Cabrita, R Carmona-Benitez, MC Cascella, M Chan, C Chawla, A Chott, NI Cole, A Converse, MV Cottle, A Cox, G Creaner, O Cutter, JE Dahl, CE David, A Viveiros, LD Dobson, JEY Druszkiewicz, E Eriksen, SR Fan, A Fayer, S Fearon, NM Fiorucci, S Flaecher, H Fraser, ED Fruth, T Gaitskell, RJ Genovesi, J Ghag, C Gibson, E Gilchriese, MGD Gokhale, S Grinten, MGDVD Gwilliam, CB Hall, CR Haselschwardt, SJ Hertel, SA Horn, M Huang, DQ Hunt, D Ignarra, CM Jahangir, O James, RS Ji, W Johnson, J Kaboth, AC Kamaha, AC Kamdin, K Khaitan, D Khazov, A Khurana, I Kodroff, D Korley, L Korolkova, EV Kraus, H Kravitz, S Kreczko, L Kudryavtsev, VA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7018-5827 Leason, EA Leonard, DS Lesko, KT Levy, C Lee, J Lin, J Lindote, A Linehan, R Lippincott, WH Liu, X Lopes, MI Asamar, EL Lopez-Paredes, B Lorenzon, W Luitz, S Majewski, PA Manalaysay, A Manenti, L Mannino, RL Marangou, N McCarthy, ME McKinsey, DN McLaughlin, J Miller, EH Mizrachi, E Monte, A Monzani, ME Morad, JA Mendoza, JDM Morrison, E Mount, BJ Murphy, ASJ Naim, D Naylor, A Nedlik, C Nelson, HN Neves, F Nikoleyczik, JA Nilima, A Olcina, I Oliver-Mallory, K Pal, S Palladino, KJ Palmer, J Parveen, N Patton, SJ Pease, EK Penning, B Pereira, G Perry, E Pershing, J Piepke, A Porzio, D Qie, Y Reichenbacher, J Rhyne, CA Richards, A Riffard, Q Riffard, Q Rischbieter, GRC Rosero, R Rossiter, P Rushton, T Santone, D Sazzad, ABMR Schnee, RW Scovell, PR Shaw, S Shutt, TA Silk, JJ Silva, C Sinev, G Smith, R Solmaz, M Solovov, VN Sorensen, P Soria, J Stancu, I Stevens, A Stifter, K Suerfu, B Sumner, TJ Swanson, N Szydagis, M Taylor, WC Taylor, R Temples, DJ Terman, PA Tiedt, DR Timalsina, M To, WH Tong, Z Tovey, DR Trask, M Tripathi, M Tronstad, DR Turner, W Utku, U Vaitkus, A Wang, B Wang, Y Wang, JJ Wang, W Watson, JR Webb, RC White, RG Whitis, TJ Williams, M Wolfs, FLH Woodford, S Woodward, D Wright, CJ Xia, Q Xiang, X Xu, J Yeh, M
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2022 The Author(s). For reuse permissions, please contact the Author(s).
Keywords:	hep-ex; hep-ex; astro-ph.CO; astro-ph.IM; hep-ph
Dates:	Submitted: 8 January 2022
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield)
Funding Information:	Funder Grant number Science and Technology Facilities Council ST/M003469/1; ST/N001141/1; ST/N000277/1 Science and Technology Facilities Council ST/P00573X/1; ST/S000747/1; 2480818
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	24 Mar 2022 14:35
Last Modified:	24 Mar 2022 14:35
Published Version:	https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.02858
Status:	Submitted
Related URLs:	arXiv URL
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:185109

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Cosmogenic production of 37Ar in the context of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment

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