Cosmogenic Backgrounds in Borexino at 3800 m water-equivalent depth

Understand

The solar neutrino experiment Borexino, which is located in the Gran Sasso underground laboratories, is in a unique position to study muon-induced backgrounds in an organic liquid scintillator.

• In this study, a large sample of cosmic muons is identified and tracked by a muon veto detector external to the liquid scintillator, and by the specific light patterns observed when muons cross the scintillator volume.
• The yield of muon-induced neutrons is found to be Yn =(3.10+-0.11)10-4 n/({\mu} (g/cm2)).
• The distance profile between the parent muon track and the neutron capture point has the average value {\lambda} = (81.5 +- 2.7)cm.