Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10722805 | Physics Letters B | 2011 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
The detection of CNO solar neutrinos in ultrapure liquid scintillator detectors is limited by the background produced by bismuth-210 nuclei that undergo β-decay to polonium-210 with a lifetime of â¼7 days. Polonium-210 nuclei are unstable and decay with a lifetime equal to â¼200 days emitting α particles that can be also detected. In this Letter, we show that the Bi-210 background can be determined by looking at the time evolution of α-decay rate of Po-210, provided that α particle detection efficiency is stable over the data acquisition period and external sources of Po-210 are negligible. A sufficient accuracy can be obtained in a relatively short time. As an example, if the initial Po-210 event rate is â¼2000 cpd/100 ton or lower, a Borexino-like detector could start discerning CNO neutrino signal from Bi-210 background in Îtâ¼1 yr.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Physics and Astronomy
Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Authors
F.L. Villante, A. Ianni, F. Lombardi, G. Pagliaroli, F. Vissani,