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The ZEPLIN-III anti-coincidence veto detector

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. Green open access

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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
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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