Cosmogenic-neutron activation of TeO2 and implications for neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments

Flux-averaged cross sections for cosmogenic-neutron activation of natural tellurium were measured using a neutron beam containing neutrons of kinetic energies up to \(\sim\)800 MeV, and having an energy spectrum similar to that of cosmic-ray neutrons at sea-level. Analysis of the radioisotopes produ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2015-03
Main Authors: Wang, Barbara S, Norman, Eric B, Scielzo, Nicholas D, Smith, Alan R, Thomas, Keenan J, Wender, Stephen A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activation
Beta decay
Cosmic rays
Empirical analysis
Energy spectra
Neutron beams
Neutron flux
Neutrons
Nuclear cross sections
Radioisotopes
Sea level
Tellurium
Tellurium dioxide
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Summary:Flux-averaged cross sections for cosmogenic-neutron activation of natural tellurium were measured using a neutron beam containing neutrons of kinetic energies up to \(\sim\)800 MeV, and having an energy spectrum similar to that of cosmic-ray neutrons at sea-level. Analysis of the radioisotopes produced reveals that 110mAg will be a dominant contributor to the cosmogenic-activation background in experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 130Te, such as CUORE and SNO+. An estimate of the cosmogenic-activation background in the CUORE experiment has been obtained using the results of this measurement and cross-section measurements of proton activation of tellurium. Additionally, the measured cross sections in this work are also compared with results from semi-empirical cross-section calculations.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1503.02095