3D-Deuteron Track Recoils Produced by Neutron Capture in Hydrogen Measured by MIMAC-35 cm

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Ourahou, Ilias, Santos, Daniel, Guillaudin, Olivier, Louis-Cistac, Pierre, Malek, Fairouz, Sauzet, Nadine, Tao, Charling
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866913000254865408
author Ourahou, Ilias
Santos, Daniel
Guillaudin, Olivier
Louis-Cistac, Pierre
Malek, Fairouz
Sauzet, Nadine
Tao, Charling
author_facet Ourahou, Ilias
Santos, Daniel
Guillaudin, Olivier
Louis-Cistac, Pierre
Malek, Fairouz
Sauzet, Nadine
Tao, Charling
contents The neutron capture is a process that concerns most of the nuclei used to build our detectors. This process produces protons, alpha particles, and gamma rays which generate background signals. Characterizing this background is important for rare event searches, such as dark matter detection or Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CEvNS). This paper presents the result of the direct measurement of thermal neutron captures in hydrogen using a new MIcro-TPC MAtrix Chamber (MIMAC-35 cm) detector with a sensitive volume of 35 x 35 x 29 cm3. Data were collected over more than 5 days (443519 sec) with a gas mixture at 30 mbar of 70% isobutane (C4H10) and 30% trifluoromethane (CHF3). Our discrimination method is based on using 3D tracks and released ionization energy, in order to discriminate nuclear recoils (NR) from the dominant electron recoil (ER) background. This method enables the clear identification of 1.3 keV deuteron tracks resulting of nuclear capture reaction 1H(n, γ)2H. We observed 51 neutron capture events among more than 11 million total events mainly produced by muons in the experimental room of our ground laboratory. In parallel we have measured the thermal neutron flux just below the chamber with a BF3 detector and a simulation has been performed to estimate the number of captures expected. This work shows the discrimination power of MIMAC search for low-energy (E < 1 keV) rare event with a huge background without any shielding.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_17880
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle 3D-Deuteron Track Recoils Produced by Neutron Capture in Hydrogen Measured by MIMAC-35 cm
Ourahou, Ilias
Santos, Daniel
Guillaudin, Olivier
Louis-Cistac, Pierre
Malek, Fairouz
Sauzet, Nadine
Tao, Charling
Instrumentation and Detectors
Nuclear Experiment
The neutron capture is a process that concerns most of the nuclei used to build our detectors. This process produces protons, alpha particles, and gamma rays which generate background signals. Characterizing this background is important for rare event searches, such as dark matter detection or Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CEvNS). This paper presents the result of the direct measurement of thermal neutron captures in hydrogen using a new MIcro-TPC MAtrix Chamber (MIMAC-35 cm) detector with a sensitive volume of 35 x 35 x 29 cm3. Data were collected over more than 5 days (443519 sec) with a gas mixture at 30 mbar of 70% isobutane (C4H10) and 30% trifluoromethane (CHF3). Our discrimination method is based on using 3D tracks and released ionization energy, in order to discriminate nuclear recoils (NR) from the dominant electron recoil (ER) background. This method enables the clear identification of 1.3 keV deuteron tracks resulting of nuclear capture reaction 1H(n, γ)2H. We observed 51 neutron capture events among more than 11 million total events mainly produced by muons in the experimental room of our ground laboratory. In parallel we have measured the thermal neutron flux just below the chamber with a BF3 detector and a simulation has been performed to estimate the number of captures expected. This work shows the discrimination power of MIMAC search for low-energy (E < 1 keV) rare event with a huge background without any shielding.
title 3D-Deuteron Track Recoils Produced by Neutron Capture in Hydrogen Measured by MIMAC-35 cm
topic Instrumentation and Detectors
Nuclear Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.17880