Abstract:
The Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment aims to determine sin22θ13 with a sensitivity of 0.01 or better at 90% confidence level. One of the major backgrounds to neutrino measurements is the muon-induced neutrons. An experiment had been set up inside the Aberdeen Tunnel laboratory, Hong Kong, to study spallation neutrons induced by cosmic-ray muons in an underground environment similar to the Daya Bay experiment.
Detections of muon-induced neutrons inside the Aberdeen Tunnel laboratory is achieved by a Muon Tracker and a Neutron Detector. The Muon Tracker consists of three main layers of crossed plastic scintillator hodoscopes capable of determining the incoming direction of muons. The Neutron Detector consists of about 760 L of gadolinium-doped liquid scintillator and sixteen photomultiplier tubes. The liquid scintillator target is shield by about 1900 L of mineral oil from external radiations.
This presentation will start with a brief history of neutrino, and give a brief introduction to the Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment. Then the talk will focus on the muon flux and muon-induced neutron measurements in Hong Kong.