Akimov, DY;
Araújo, HM;
Barnes, EJ;
Belov, VA;
Burenkov, AA;
Chepel, V;
Currie, A;
... Walker, RJ; + view all
(2010)
The ZEPLIN-III anti-coincidence veto detector.
Astroparticle Physics
, 34
(3)
pp. 151-163.
10.1016/j.astropartphys.2010.06.010.
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Abstract
The design, optimisation and construction of an anti-coincidence veto detector to complement the ZEPLIN-III direct dark matter search instrument is described. One tonne of plastic scintillator is arranged into 52 bars individually read out by photomultipliers and coupled to a gadolinium-loaded passive polypropylene shield. Particular attention has been paid to radiological content. The overall aim has been to achieve a veto detector of low threshold and high efficiency without the creation of additional background in ZEPLIN-III, all at a reasonable cost. Extensive experimental measurements of the components have been made, including radioactivity levels and performance characteristics. These have been used to inform a complete end-to-end Monte Carlo simulation that has then been used to calculate the expected performance of the new instrument, both operating alone and as an anti-coincidence detector for ZEPLIN-III. The veto device will be capable of rejecting over 65% of coincident nuclear recoil events from neutron background in the energy range of interest in ZEPLIN-III. This will reduce the background in ZEPLIN-III from ≃0.4 to ≃0.14 events per year in the WIMP acceptance region, a significant factor in the event of a non-zero observation. Furthermore, in addition to providing valuable diagnostic capabilities, the veto is capable of tagging over 15% for γ-ray rejection, all whilst contributing no significant additional background. In conjunction with the replacement of the internal ZEPLIN-III photomultiplier array, the new veto is expected to improve significantly the sensitivity of the ZEPLIN-III instrument to dark matter, allowing spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections below 10-8 pb to be probed. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | The ZEPLIN-III anti-coincidence veto detector |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2010.06.010 |
Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2010.06.010 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
Keywords: | Veto, Plastic, Scintillator, Gadolinium, ZEPLIN-III |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1352129 |
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