TY  - JOUR
AU  - Basilico, D.
AU  - Bellini, G.
AU  - Benziger, J.
AU  - Biondi, R.
AU  - Caccianiga, B.
AU  - Calaprice, F.
AU  - Caminata, A.
AU  - Chepurnov, A.
AU  - D’Angelo, D.
AU  - Derbin, A.
AU  - Di Giacinto, A.
AU  - Di Marcello, V.
AU  - Ding, X. F.
AU  - Di Ludovico, A.
AU  - Di Noto, L.
AU  - Drachnev, I.
AU  - Franco, D.
AU  - Galbiati, C.
AU  - Ghiano, C.
AU  - Giammarchi, M.
AU  - Goretti, A.
AU  - Gromov, M.
AU  - Guffanti, D.
AU  - Ianni, Aldo
AU  - Ianni, Andrea
AU  - Jany, A.
AU  - Kobychev, V.
AU  - Korga, G.
AU  - Kumaran, S.
AU  - Laubenstein, M.
AU  - Litvinovich, E.
AU  - Lombardi, P.
AU  - Lomskaya, I.
AU  - Ludhova, L.
AU  - Machulin, I.
AU  - Martyn, J.
AU  - Meroni, E.
AU  - Miramonti, L.
AU  - Misiaszek, M.
AU  - Muratova, V.
AU  - Nugmanov, R.
AU  - Oberauer, L.
AU  - Orekhov, V.
AU  - Ortica, F.
AU  - Pallavicini, M.
AU  - Pelicci, L.
AU  - Penek, Ö.
AU  - Pietrofaccia, L.
AU  - Pilipenko, N.
AU  - Pocar, A.
AU  - Raikov, G.
AU  - Ranalli, M. T.
AU  - Ranucci, G.
AU  - Razeto, A.
AU  - Re, A.
AU  - Rossi, N.
AU  - Schönert, S.
AU  - Semenov, D.
AU  - Settanta, G.
AU  - Skorokhvatov, M.
AU  - Singhal, A.
AU  - Smirnov, O.
AU  - Sotnikov, A.
AU  - Tartaglia, R.
AU  - Testera, G.
AU  - Unzhakov, E.
AU  - Vishneva, A.
AU  - Vogelaar, R. B.
AU  - von Feilitzsch, F.
AU  - Wojcik, M.
AU  - Wurm, M.
AU  - Zavatarelli, S.
AU  - Zuber, K.
AU  - Zuzel, G.
TI  - Optimized α / β pulse shape discrimination in Borexino
JO  - Physical review / D
VL  - 109
IS  - 11
SN  - 2470-0010
CY  - Ridge, NY
PB  - American Physical Society
M1  - FZJ-2025-01438
SP  - 112014
PY  - 2024
AB  - 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.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:001252569300001
DO  - DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.109.112014
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1038442
ER  -