Comprehensive study of cosmogenic neutron production in large liquid scintillator detectors
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866918293907963904 |
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| author | Jiang, Yijian Cheng, Jie Lu, Haoqi Wang, Yaoguang |
| author_facet | Jiang, Yijian Cheng, Jie Lu, Haoqi Wang, Yaoguang |
| contents | Neutrons produced by cosmic ray muons constitute a significant background for underground experiments investigating neutron oscillations, neutrinoless double beta decay, dark matter, and other rare event signals. This work benchmarks measured neutron yields and neutron multiplicities--with a focus on data from the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment--against comprehensive simulations using three GEANT4 hadronic physics lists. These simulations are further refined via a TALYS-based adjustment of hadronic cross sections. For the BERT-based models, the adjustment reduces the discrepancy in the total neutron yield from about 20% to approximately 6%, while for the BIC-based models it improves the agreement from roughly 13% to the sub-percent level (~0.3%), indicating a markedly better consistency of the BIC-based models with the experimental data. Nevertheless, a clear tension persists: simulations systematically underproduce single-neutron events while overproducing multi-neutron events. The study establishes a reproducible benchmark for cosmogenic neutron modeling and proposes a targeted refinement strategy--including channel-specific reweighting and intranuclear cascade parameter tuning--to guide future model development. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_11980 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Comprehensive study of cosmogenic neutron production in large liquid scintillator detectors Jiang, Yijian Cheng, Jie Lu, Haoqi Wang, Yaoguang Instrumentation and Detectors High Energy Physics - Experiment High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Neutrons produced by cosmic ray muons constitute a significant background for underground experiments investigating neutron oscillations, neutrinoless double beta decay, dark matter, and other rare event signals. This work benchmarks measured neutron yields and neutron multiplicities--with a focus on data from the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment--against comprehensive simulations using three GEANT4 hadronic physics lists. These simulations are further refined via a TALYS-based adjustment of hadronic cross sections. For the BERT-based models, the adjustment reduces the discrepancy in the total neutron yield from about 20% to approximately 6%, while for the BIC-based models it improves the agreement from roughly 13% to the sub-percent level (~0.3%), indicating a markedly better consistency of the BIC-based models with the experimental data. Nevertheless, a clear tension persists: simulations systematically underproduce single-neutron events while overproducing multi-neutron events. The study establishes a reproducible benchmark for cosmogenic neutron modeling and proposes a targeted refinement strategy--including channel-specific reweighting and intranuclear cascade parameter tuning--to guide future model development. |
| title | Comprehensive study of cosmogenic neutron production in large liquid scintillator detectors |
| topic | Instrumentation and Detectors High Energy Physics - Experiment High Energy Physics - Phenomenology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.11980 |