论文标题
Majorana示威者校准数据中13C(α,n)16O反应的实验研究
Experimental study of 13C(α,n)16O reactions in the Majorana Demonstrator calibration data
论文作者
论文摘要
反应产物的中子捕获和延迟衰减是超稀有事件搜索中背景的常见来源。在这项工作中,我们研究了$^{13} $ c($α,n)^{16} $ o反应是由$α$ - 粒子引起的\ textsc {majorana示威者}中发出的$α$ - 粒子。这些来源是含有丰富碳材料的基于or的校准标准。通过使用从激发$^{16} $ o状态发出的6129-KeV $γ$ - 砂来估计反应速率,这些状态在进入的$α$ - 粒子超过反应q值时被填充的状态。得益于\ textsc {示例}的锗检测器的出色能量性能,在校准数据中可以清楚地观察到这些特征光子。由\ textsc {geant4}仿真促进,进行了比较,观察到的6129-kev光子速率与基于TALYS的软件进行预测。发现测量和预测是一致的,尽管具有较大的统计不确定性。本协议为($α,n $)的背景预测提供了支持 - 未来双β衰变搜索工作中的反应。
Neutron captures and delayed decays of reaction products are common sources of backgrounds in ultra-rare event searches. In this work, we studied $^{13}$C($α,n)^{16}$O reactions induced by $α$-particles emitted within the calibration sources of the \textsc{Majorana Demonstrator}. These sources are thorium-based calibration standards enclosed in carbon-rich materials. The reaction rate was estimated by using the 6129-keV $γ$-rays emitted from the excited $^{16}$O states that are populated when the incoming $α$-particles exceed the reaction Q-value. Thanks to the excellent energy performance of the \textsc{Demonstrator}'s germanium detectors, these characteristic photons can be clearly observed in the calibration data. Facilitated by \textsc{Geant4} simulations, a comparison between the observed 6129-keV photon rates and predictions by a TALYS-based software was performed. The measurements and predictions were found to be consistent, albeit with large statistical uncertainties. This agreement provides support for background projections from ($α,n$)-reactions in future double-beta decay search efforts.