Journal Article

FZJ-2025-01438

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Optimized α / β pulse shape discrimination in Borexino

Basilico, D. ; Bellini, G. ; Benziger, J. ; Biondi, R. ; Caccianiga, B. ; Calaprice, F. ; Caminata, A. ; Chepurnov, A. ; D’Angelo, D. ; Derbin, A. ; Di Giacinto, A. ; Di Marcello, V. ; Ding, X. F. ; Di Ludovico, A. ; Di Noto, L. ; Drachnev, I. ; Franco, D. ; Galbiati, C. ; Ghiano, C. ; Giammarchi, M. ; Goretti, A. ; Gromov, M. ; Guffanti, D. ; Ianni, A. ; Ianni, A. ; Jany, A. ; Kobychev, V. ; Korga, G. ; Kumaran, S. ; Laubenstein, M. ; Litvinovich, E. ; Lombardi, P. ; Lomskaya, I. ; Ludhova, L. ; Machulin, I. ; Martyn, J. ; Meroni, E. ; Miramonti, L. ; Misiaszek, M. ; Muratova, V. ; Nugmanov, R. ; Oberauer, L. ; Orekhov, V. ; Ortica, F. ; Pallavicini, M. ; Pelicci, L. ; Penek, Ö. ; Pietrofaccia, L. ; Pilipenko, N. ; Pocar, A. ; Raikov, G. ; Ranalli, M. T. ; Ranucci, G. ; Razeto, A. ; Re, A. ; Rossi, N. ; Schönert, S. ; Semenov, D. ; Settanta, G. ; Skorokhvatov, M. ; Singhal, A.FZJ* ; Smirnov, O. ; Sotnikov, A. ; Tartaglia, R. ; Testera, G. ; Unzhakov, E. ; Vishneva, A. ; Vogelaar, R. B. ; von Feilitzsch, F. ; Wojcik, M. ; Wurm, M. ; Zavatarelli, S. ; Zuber, K. ; Zuzel, G.

2024
American Physical Society Ridge, NY

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Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.109.112014  doi:10.34734/FZJ-2025-01438

Abstract: Borexino could efficiently distinguish between 𝛼 and 𝛽 radiation in its liquid scintillator by the characteristic time profile of its scintillation pulse. This 𝛼/𝛽 discrimination, first demonstrated on the ton scale in the counting test facility prototype, was used throughout the lifetime of the experiment between 2007 and 2021. With this method, the 𝛼 events are identified and subtracted from the solar neutrino events similar to 𝛽. This is particularly important in liquid scintillators, as the 𝛼 scintillation is strongly quenched. In Borexino, the prominent 210 Po decay peak was a background in the energy range of electrons scattered from 7 Be solar neutrinos. Optimal 𝛼/𝛽 discrimination was achieved with a multilayer perceptron neural network, with a higher ability to leverage the timing information of the scintillation photons detected by the photomultiplier tubes. An event-by-event, high efficiency, stable, and uniform pulse shape discrimination was essential in characterizing the spatial distribution of background in the detector. This benefited most Borexino measurements, including solar neutrinos in the 𝑝⁢𝑝 chain and the first direct observation of the CNO cycle in the Sun. This paper presents key milestones in 𝛼/𝛽 discrimination in Borexino as a term of comparison for current and future large liquid scintillator detectors.

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Contributing Institute(s):

1. Experimentelle Hadrondynamik (IKP-2)

Research Program(s):

1. 612 - Cosmic Matter in the Laboratory (POF4-612) (POF4-612)

Appears in the scientific report 2024

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; ; ; ; Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List ; Current Contents - Electronics and Telecommunications Collection ; Current Contents - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences ; Ebsco Academic Search ; Essential Science Indicators ; IF >= 5 ; JCR ; SCOAP3 sponsored Journal ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Web of Science Core Collection

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