Neutrons produced by muons at 25 mwe

Abstract

The flux of fast neutrons produced by CR muons in lead at the depth of 25 mwe is measured. Lead is a common shielding material and neutrons produced in it in muon interactions are unavoidable background component, even in sensitive deep underground experiments. A low background gamma spectrometer, equipped with high purity Ge detector in coincidence with muon detector is used for this purpose. Neutrons are identified by the structure at 692 KeV in the spectrum of delayed coincidences, caused by the neutron inelastic scattering on Ge-72 isotope. Preliminary result for the fast neutron rate is 3.1(5) × 10 - 4n/cm2 · s.