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Neutral-current background induced by atmospheric neutrinos at large liquid-scintillator detectors: I. model predictions
- Source :
- Phys. Rev. D 103, 053001 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- The experimental searches for diffuse supernova neutrino background and proton decay in next-generation large liquid-scintillator (LS) detectors are competitive with and complementary to those in the water-Cherenkov detectors. In this paper, we carry out a systematic study of the dominant background induced by atmospheric neutrinos via their neutral-current (NC) interactions with the $^{12}{\rm C}$ nuclei in the LS detectors. The atmospheric neutrino fluxes at the location of Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) are used, as the JUNO detector is obviously a suitable representative for future LS detectors. Then, we implement the sophisticated generators \texttt{GENIE} and \texttt{NuWro} to simulate the neutrino interactions with the carbon nuclei, and the package \texttt{TALYS} to deal with the deexcitations of final-state nuclei. Finally, the event rates for the production of additional nucleons, $\gamma$'s, $\alpha$'s, pions and kaons are obtained and categorized, and the systematic uncertainty of the NC background represented by a variety of data-driven nuclear models is estimated. The implications of the NC background from atmospheric neutrinos for the detection of diffuse supernova neutrino background and proton decay are also discussed.<br />Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, more discussions, version to appear in PRD
Details
- Database :
- arXiv
- Journal :
- Phys. Rev. D 103, 053001 (2021)
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsarx.2008.04633
- Document Type :
- Working Paper
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.103.053001