Abstract

Borexino is a 300 ton sub-MeV liquid scintillator solar neutrino detector which has been running at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Italy) since 2007. Thanks to its unprecedented radio-purity, it was able to measure the flux of 7Be, 8B, pp, and pep solar neutrinos and to detect geo-neutrinos. A reliable simulation of the detector is an invaluable tool for all Borexino physics analyses. The simulation accounts for the energy loss of particles in all the detector components, the generation of the scintillation photons, their propagation within the liquid scintillator volume, and a detailed simulation of the electronics chain. A novel efficient method for simulating the external background which survives the Borexino passive shield was developed. This technique allows to reliably predict the effect of the contamination in the peripheral construction materials. The techniques developed to simulate the Borexino detector and their level of refinement are of possible interest to the neutrino and dark matter communities, especially for current and future large-volume liquid scintillator experiments.

Details

Title
The Monte Carlo simulation of the Borexino detector
Author
Marcocci, S 1 ; Agostini, M 2 ; Altenmüller, K 3 ; Appel, S 3 ; Atroshchenko, V 4 ; Bagdasarian, Z 5 ; Basilico, D 6 ; Bellini, G 6 ; Benziger, J 7 ; Bick, D 8 ; Bonfini, G 9 ; Bravo, D 10 ; Caccianiga, B 6 ; Calaprice, F 11 ; Caminata, A 12 ; Caprioli, S 6 ; Carlini, M 9 ; Cavalcante, P 13 ; Chepurnov, A 14 ; Choi, K 15 ; Collica, L 6 ; D D’Angelo 6 ; Davini, S 12 ; Derbin, A 16 ; Ding, X F 2 ; A Di Ludovico 11 ; L Di Noto 12 ; Drachnev, I 17 ; Fomenko, K 18 ; Formozov, A 19 ; Franco, D 20 ; Gabriele, F 9 ; Galbiati, C 11 ; Ghiano, C 9 ; Giammarchi, M 6 ; Goretti, A 11 ; Gromov, M 14 ; Guffanti, D 2 ; Hagner, C 8 ; Houdy, T 20 ; Hungerford, E 21 ; Ianni, Aldo 22 ; Ianni, Andrea 11 ; Jany, A 23 ; Jeschke, D 3 ; Kobychev, V 24 ; Korablev, D 18 ; Korga, G 21 ; Kryn, D 20 ; Laubenstein, M 9 ; Litvinovich, E 25 ; Lombardi, F 26 ; Lombardi, P 6 ; Ludhova, L 27 ; Lukyanchenko, G 4 ; Lukyanchenko, L 4 ; Machulin, I 25 ; Manuzio, G 12 ; Martyn, J 28 ; Meroni, E 6 ; Meyer, M 29 ; Miramonti, L 6 ; Misiaszek, M 23 ; Muratova, V 16 ; Neumair, B 3 ; Oberauer, L 3 ; Opitz, B 8 ; Orekhov, V 4 ; Ortica, F 30 ; Pallavicini, M 12 ; Papp, L 3 ; Penek, Ö 27 ; Pilipenko, N 16 ; Pocar, A 31 ; Porcelli, A 28 ; Ranucci, G 6 ; Razeto, A 9 ; A Re 6 ; Redchuk, M 27 ; Romani, A 30 ; Roncin, R 32 ; Rossi, N 9 ; Schönert, S 3 ; Semenov, D 16 ; Skorokhvatov, M 25 ; Smirnov, O 18 ; Sotnikov, A 18 ; Stokes, L F F 9 ; Suvorov, Y 33 ; Tartaglia, R 9 ; Testera, G 12 ; Thurn, J 29 ; Toropova, M 4 ; Unzhakov, E 16 ; Vishneva, A 18 ; Vogelaar, R B 34 ; F von Feilitzsch 3 ; Wang, H 35 ; Weinz, S 28 ; Wojcik, M 23 ; Wurm, M 28 ; Yokley, Z 34 ; Zaimidoroga, O 18 ; Zavatarelli, S 12 ; Zuber, K 29 ; Zuzel, G 23 ; Collaboration, Borexino 23 

1  Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67010 Assergi (AQ), Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi e INFN, 16146 Genova, Italy; Now at: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510, USA 
2  Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67010 Assergi (AQ), Italy 
3  Physik-Department and Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universitat München, 85748 Garching, Germany 
4  National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, 123182 Moscow, Russia 
5  IKP-2 Forschungzentrum Julich, 52428 Julich, Germany 
6  Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi e INFN, 20133 Milano, Italy 
7  Chemical Engineering Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA 
8  Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg, 22761 Hamburg, Germany 
9  INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67010 Assergi (AQ), Italy 
10  Physics Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA; Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi e INFN, 20133 Milano, Italy 
11  Physics Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA 
12  Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi e INFN, 16146 Genova, Italy 
13  INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67010 Assergi (AQ), Italy; Physics Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA 
14  Lomonosov Moscow State University Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, 119234 Moscow, Russia 
15  Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA 
16  St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute NRC Kurchatov Institute, 188350 Gatchina, Russia 
17  Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy; INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67010 Assergi (AQ), Italy; St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute NRC Kurchatov Institute, 188350 Gatchina, Russia 
18  Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980 Dubna, Russia 
19  Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980 Dubna, Russia; Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi e INFN, 20133 Milano, Italy; Lomonosov Moscow State University Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, 119234 Moscow, Russia 
20  AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/IRFU, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France 
21  Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA 
22  INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67010 Assergi (AQ), Italy; Also at: Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc, Paseo de los Ayerbe S/N, 22880 Canfranc Estacion Huesca, Spain 
23  M. Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, 30059 Krakow, Poland 
24  Kiev Institute for Nuclear Research, 03680 Kiev, Ukraine 
25  National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, 123182 Moscow, Russia; National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), 115409 Moscow, Russia 
26  INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67010 Assergi (AQ), Italy; Present address: Physics Department, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA 
27  IKP-2 Forschungzentrum Julich, 52428 Julich, Germany; RWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany 
28  Institute of Physics and Excellence Cluster PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany 
29  Department of Physics, Technische Universitat Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany 
30  Dipartimento di Chimica, Biología e Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi e INFN, 06123 Perugia, Italy 
31  Amherst Center for Fundamental Interactions and Physics Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA 
32  INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67010 Assergi (AQ), Italy; AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/IRFU, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, France 
33  Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, California 90095, USA; National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, 123182 Moscow, Russia 
34  Physics Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA 
35  Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, California 90095, USA 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
Jan 2020
Publisher
IOP Publishing
ISSN
17426588
e-ISSN
17426596
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1342/1/012035
ProQuest document ID
2568052850
Copyright
© 2020. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.