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Measurement of the Gamma Ray Background in the Davis Cavern at the Sanford Underground Research Facility

Publication . D. S. Akerib; C. W. Akerlof; S. K. Alsum; N. Angelides; H. M. Araújo; J. E. Armstrong; M. Arthurs; X. Bai; J. Balajthy; S. Balashov; A. Baxter; T. K. Edberg; A. Fan; S. Fiorucci; H. Flaecher; T. Fruth; R. J. Gaitskell; J. Genovesi; C. Ghag; M. G. D. Gilchriese; S. Gokhale; M. E. Monzani; M. G. D. van der Grinten; C. R. Hall; S. Hans; J. Harrison; S. J. Haselschwardt; S. A. Hertel; J. Y-K. Hor; M. Horn; D. Q. Huang; C. M. Ignarra; J. A. Morad; O. Jahangir; W. Ji; J. Johnson; A. C. Kaboth; K. Kamdin; D. Khaitan; A. Khazov; W. T. Kim; C. D. Kocher; L. Korley; E. Morrison; E. V. Korolkova; J. Kras; H. Kraus; S. W. Kravitz; L. Kreczko; B. Krikler; V. A. Kudryavtsev; E. A. Leason; J. Lee; D. S. Leonard; B. J. Mount; K. T. Lesko; C. Levy; J. Li; J. Liao; F. -T. Liao; J. Lin; A. Lindote; R. Linehan; W. H. Lippincott; R. Liu; A. St. J. Murphy; X. Liu; C. Loniewski; M. I. Lopes; B. López Paredes; W. Lorenzon; S. Luitz; J. M. Lyle; P. A. Majewski; A. Manalaysay; L. Manenti; D. Naim; R. L. Mannino; N. Marangou; M. F. Marzioni; D. N. McKinsey; J. McLaughlin; Y. Meng; E. H. Miller; A. Naylor; C. Nedlik; C. Nehrkorn; H. N. Nelson; E. P. Bernard; F. Neves; J. Nikoleyczik; A. Nilima; I. Olcina; K. C. Oliver-Mallory; S. Pal; K. J. Palladino; E. K. Pease; B. P. Penning; G. Pereira; A. Biekert; A. Piepke; K. Pushkin; J. Reichenbacher; C. A. Rhyne; Q. Riffard; G. R. C. Rischbieter; J. P. Rodrigues; R. Rosero; P. Rossiter; G. Rutherford; T. P. Biesiadzinski; A. B. M. R. Sazzad; R. W. Schnee; M. Schubnell; P. R. Scovell; D. Seymour; S. Shaw; T. A. Shutt; J. J. Silk; C. Silva; M. Solmaz; K. E. Boast; V. N. Solovov; P. Sorensen; I. Stancu; A. Stevens; T. M. Stiegler; K. Stifter; M. Szydagis; W. C. Taylor; R. Taylor; D. Temples; B. Boxer; P. A. Terman; D. R. Tiedt; M. Timalsina; A Tomás; M. Tripathi; L. Tvrznikova; U. Utku; S. Uvarov; A. Vacheret; J. J. Wang; P. Brás; J. R. Watson; R. C. Webb; R. G. White; T. J. Whitis; F. L. H. Wolfs; D. Woodward; J. Yin; J. H. Buckley; V. V. Bugaev; S. Burdin; J. K. Busenitz; C. Carels; D. L. Carlsmith; M. C. Carmona-Benitez; M. Cascella; C. Chan; A. Cole; A. Cottle; J. E. Cutter; C. E. Dahl; L. de Viveiros; J. E. Y. Dobson; E. Druszkiewicz

Deep underground environments are ideal for low background searches due to the attenuation of cosmic rays by passage through the earth. However, they are affected by backgrounds from $\gamma$-rays emitted by $^{40}$K and the $^{238}$U and $^{232}$Th decay chains in the surrounding rock. The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment will search for dark matter particle interactions with a liquid xenon TPC located within the Davis campus at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, Lead, South Dakota, at the 4,850-foot level. In order to characterise the cavern background, in-situ $\gamma$-ray measurements were taken with a sodium iodide detector in various locations and with lead shielding. The integral count rates (0--3300~keV) varied from 596~Hz to 1355~Hz for unshielded measurements, corresponding to a total flux in the cavern of $1.9\pm0.4$~$\gamma~$cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$. The resulting activity in the walls of the cavern can be characterised as $220\pm60$~Bq/kg of $^{40}$K, $29\pm15$~Bq/kg of $^{238}$U, and $13\pm3$~Bq/kg of $^{232}$Th.

2019-04-03Journal article

Restricted access

Radiogenic and Muon-Induced Backgrounds in the LUX Dark Matter Detector

Publication . Akerib, D.S. et al. (80 authors); de Viveiros, L.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M.I.; Neves, F.; Silva, C.; Solovov, V.N.

The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment aims to detect rare low-energy interactions from Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The radiogenic backgrounds in the LUX detector have been measured and compared with Monte Carlo simulation. Measurements of LUX high-energy data have provided direct constraints on all background sources contributing to the background model. The expected background rate from the background model for the 85.3 day WIMP search run is $(2.6\pm0.2_{\textrm{stat}}\pm0.4_{\textrm{sys}})\times10^{-3}$~events~keV$_{ee}^{-1}$~kg$^{-1}$~day$^{-1}$ in a 118~kg fiducial volume. The observed background rate is $(3.6\pm0.4_{\textrm{stat}})\times10^{-3}$~events~keV$_{ee}^{-1}$~kg$^{-1}$~day$^{-1}$, consistent with model projections. The expectation for the radiogenic background in a subsequent one-year run is presented.

2015-03Journal article

Open access