Photon-veto counters at the outer edge of the endcap calorimeter for the KOTO experiment

The Outer-Edge Veto (OEV) counter subsystem for extra-photon detection from the backgrounds for the KL0→π0νν¯ decay is located at the outer edge of the endcap CsI calorimeter of the KOTO experiment at J-PARC. The subsystem is composed of 44 counters with different cross-sectional shapes. All counters are made of lead and scintillator plates and read out through wavelength-shifting fibers. In this paper, we discuss the design and performances of the OEV counters under heavy load (~8tons/m2) in vacuum. For 1-MeV energy deposit, the average light yield and time resolution are 20.9 photo-electrons and 1.5 ns, respectively. Although no pronounced peak by minimum-ionizing particles is observed in the energy distributions, an energy calibration method with cosmic rays works well in monitoring the gain stability with an accuracy of a few percent.