The neutron veto of the XENONnT experiment: results with demineralized water

Abstract Radiogenic neutrons emitted by detector materials are one of the most challenging backgrounds for the direct search of dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). To mitigate this background, the XENONnT experiment is equipped with a novel gadolinium-doped water Cherenkov detector, which encloses the xenon dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC). The neutron veto (NV) can tag neutrons via their capture on gadolinium or hydrogen, which release $$\gamma $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>γ</mml:mi> </mml:math> -rays that are subsequently detected as Cherenkov light. In this work, we present the first results of the XENONnT NV when operated with demineralized water only, before the insertion of gadolinium. Its efficiency for detecting neutrons is $$({82\pm 1}){\%}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>82</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>%</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , the highest neutron detection efficiency achieved in a water Cherenkov detector. This enables a high efficiency of $$({53\pm 3}){\%}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>53</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>%</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> for the tagging of WIMP-like neutron signals, inside a tagging time window of $${250}~{\upmu }\hbox {s}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>250</mml:mn> <mml:mspace/> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>s</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> between TPC and NV, leading to a livetime loss of $${1.6}{\%}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>1.6</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>%</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> during the first science run of XENONnT.

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Journal
The European Physical Journal C
Published
2025-06-24
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14105-0
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.74

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article

The neutron veto of the XENONnT experiment: results with demineralized water

M. Kara, K. Miuchi, F. Lombardi, G. Plante et al.
2 citations
The European Physical Journal C
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
3.74
article

The neutron veto of the XENONnT experiment: results with demineralized water

M. Kara, K. Miuchi, F. Lombardi, G. Plante, K. Martens, M Yamashita, R Singh, C. Hils, L. J. Levinson, S. Moriyama, E. Aprile, Y. Itow, R Hammann, C. Wittweg, K. Eitel, F. Gao, R. Glade-Beucke, R. Budnik, J. Grigat, C. Szyszka, J. Qin, Sumit Ghosh, C. Capelli, E. Masson, F Marignetti, A. Molinario, L. Hoetzsch, J. J. Cuenca-García, M. Pierre, L. Althueser, C. Fuselli, E. Angelino, K. Liu, Y. Ma, V.H.S Wu, A. Kopec, M. Flierman, P. Di Gangi, A. Bismark, A. Elykov, M. Galloway, W. Fulgione, J. Loizeau, A. D. Ferella, F Toschi, F. Arneodo, D. Xu, L Manenti, M. Iacovacci, K. Morå, M. Guida, R Giacomobono, C. Peters, Jing-Zhao Qi, S. Li, M. P. Decowski, Q. Pellegrini, Y. Xing, A. Higuera, I. Sarnoff, S. Mastroianni, A. Deisting, J. Masbou, S. Ahmed Maouloud, D. Ramírez García, J. Aalbers, A. P. Colijn, J. M. R. Cardoso, M. Selvi, G. Bruno, S. Vecchi, R. F. Lang, G Trinchero, C Weinheimer, C.D Tunnell, Y. Takeuchi, F Joerg, D. Thers, V. D’Andrea, N. F. Hood, M. Bazyk, Y Kaminaga, D. Wenz, J.M.F. dos Santos, G. Zavattini, J Schreiner, T. Marrodán Undagoitia, R. Biondi, B. Paetsch, T. R. Pollmann, S. Liang, A. Brown, Ying-Tsong Lin, P. Kavrigin, S Lindemann, M. Schümann, J. A. M. Lopes, D. Antón Martin, T.C. Luce, L. Bellagamba, Y Mosbacher, M. Lindner, F. Tönnies, Ce Cai, L. T. Yang, A. P. Cimental Chávez, L Baudis, U. Oberlack, L. Grandi, R. Peres, P. Schulte, P. Gaemers, L Principe, S. el Morabit, M Rajado, T Flehmke, A Melchiorre, Jian Shi, M. Messina, S. Shi, K. Abe, H. Fischer, M. Silva, P.-L. Tan, Matthew J. Weiss, Jan Conrad, A. Mancuso, Kaixiang Ni, A Michael, C. Macolino, J. Pienaar, K Boese, H. Landsman, M. X. Liu, D Koke, L. C. Daniel Garcia, I. Li, H. Schulze Eißing, J. Jakob, M. Zhong, F. Semeria, A. Takeda, J. Mahlstedt, G. Volta, G. Sartorelli, P. Shagin, S. Diglio, J. Müller, M. Murra, K Valerius, R. Gaïor, H. Simgen, J. Merz, L. Scotto Lavina, F. I. Villazon Solar, L. Escudero Sanchez, Ye J, S. Kazama, H. Guan, C Di Donato, C. Ferrari, B. Andrieu, P Gyorgy, S Vetter, Z. Xu, M. Kobayashi, L. Yuan, J. Long, Y. Pan
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Abstract Radiogenic neutrons emitted by detector materials are one of the most challenging backgrounds for the direct search of dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). To mitigate this background, the XENONnT experiment is equipped with a novel gadolinium-doped water Cherenkov detector, which encloses the xenon dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC). The neutron veto (NV) can tag neutrons via their capture on gadolinium or hydrogen, which release $$\gamma $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>γ</mml:mi> </mml:math> -rays that are subsequently detected as Cherenkov light. In this work, we present the first results of the XENONnT NV when operated with demineralized water only, before the insertion of gadolinium. Its efficiency for detecting neutrons is $$({82\pm 1}){\%}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>82</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>%</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , the highest neutron detection efficiency achieved in a water Cherenkov detector. This enables a high efficiency of $$({53\pm 3}){\%}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>53</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>%</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> for the tagging of WIMP-like neutron signals, inside a tagging time window of $${250}~{\upmu }\hbox {s}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>250</mml:mn> <mml:mspace/> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>s</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> between TPC and NV, leading to a livetime loss of $${1.6}{\%}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>1.6</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>%</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> during the first science run of XENONnT.

The European Physical Journal CVol. 85(6)
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE), Roma Tre University (IT), New York University Abu Dhabi (AE), Obayashi (Japan) (JP), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Bucknell University (US), University of Fribourg (CH), Stockholm University (SE), Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP), University of Groningen (NL), Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE), University of Ferrara (IT), University of Zurich (CH), Purdue University West Lafayette (US), University of Münster (DE), University of L'Aquila (IT), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (IT), Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra (PT), Westlake University (CN), University of California San Diego (US), Sorbonne Université (FR), University of Chicago (US), National Institute for Subatomic Physics (NL), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino (IT), Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (IT), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Napoli (IT), Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et des Technologies Associées (FR), Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CN), IMT Atlantique (FR), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (FR), AlbaNova (SE), Institute of High Energy Physics (CN), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna (IT), Gran Sasso Science Institute (IT), Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (DE), Vitenparken (NO), Weizmann Institute of Science (IL), New York University (US), Nagoya University (JP), Kobe University (JP), Rice University (US), The University of Tokyo (JP), University of Coimbra (PT), Columbia University (US), University of Amsterdam (NL), University of Bologna (IT), Nantes Université (FR), Tsinghua University (CN)
National Science Foundation, University of Chicago, European Commission, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Weizmann Institute of Science, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse, Tsinghua University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso
Clean water and sanitation
Openalex Percentile: Top 10%
Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena
3.74
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