High-accuracy determination of the neutron flux in the new experimental area n_TOF-EAR2 at CERN

M. Sabaté-Gilarte; M. Barbagallo; N. Colonna; F. Gunsing; P. Žugec; V. Vlachoudis; Y. H. Chen; A. Stamatopoulos; J. Lerendegui-Marco; M. A. Cortés-Giraldo; A. Villacorta; C. Guerrero; L. Damone; L. Audouin; E. Berthoumieux; L. Cosentino; M. Diakaki; P. Finocchiaro; A. Musumarra; T. Papaevangelou; M. Piscopo; L. Tassan-Got; O. Aberle; J. Andrzejewski; V. Bécares; M. Bacak; R. Baccomi; J. Balibrea; S. Barros; F. Bečvář; C. Beinrucker; F. Belloni; J. Billowes; D. Bosnar; M. Brugger; M. Caamaño; F. Calviño; M. Calviani; D. Cano-Ott; R. Cardella; A. Casanovas; D. M. Castelluccio; F. Cerutti; E. Chiaveri; G. Cortés; K. Deo; C. Domingo-Pardo; R. Dressler; E. Dupont; I. Durán; B. Fernández-Domínguez; A. Ferrari; P. Ferreira; R. J. W. Frost; V. Furman; K. Göbel; A. R. García; A. Gawlik; I. Gheorghe; T. Glodariu; I. F. Gonçalves; E. González; A. Goverdovski; E. Griesmayer; H. Harada; T. Heftrich; S. Heinitz; A. Hernández-Prieto; J. Heyse; D. G. Jenkins; E. Jericha; F. Käppeler; Y. Kadi; T. Katabuchi; P. Kavrigin; V. Ketlerov; V. Khryachkov; A. Kimura; N. Kivel; M. Kokkoris; M. Krtička; E. Leal-Cidoncha; C. Lederer; H. Leeb; M. Licata; S. Lo Meo; S. J. Lonsdale; R. Losito; D. Macina; J. Marganiec; T. Martínez; C. Massimi; P. Mastinu; M. Mastromarco; F. Matteucci; E. A. Maugeri; E. Mendoza; A. Mengoni; P. M. Milazzo; F. Mingrone; M. Mirea; S. Montesano; R. Nolte; A. Oprea; F. R. Palomo-Pinto; C. Paradela; N. Patronis; A. Pavlik; J. Perkowski; J. I. Porras; J. Praena; J. M. Quesada; K. Rajeev; T. Rauscher; R. Reifarth; A. Riego-Perez; M. S. Robles; P. C. Rout; C. Rubbia; J. A. Ryan; A. Saxena; P. Schillebeeckx; S. Schmidt; D. Schumann; P. Sedyshev; A. G. Smith; S. V. Suryanarayana; G. Tagliente; J. L. Tain; A. Tarifeño-Saldivia; A. Tsinganis; S. Valenta; G. Vannini; V. Variale; P. Vaz; A. Ventura; R. Vlastou; A. Wallner; S. Warren; M. Weigand; C. Wolf; P. J. Woods; C. Weiss; T. Wright

doi:10.1140/epja/i2017-12392-4

2022 Impact factor 2.7

Hadrons and Nuclei

Eur. Phys. J. A (2017) 53: 210
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2017-12392-4

Special Article - Tools for Experiment and Theory

High-accuracy determination of the neutron flux in the new experimental area n_TOF-EAR2 at CERN

M. Sabaté-Gilarte¹^,2, M. Barbagallo³^*, N. Colonna³, F. Gunsing⁴, P. Žugec⁵, V. Vlachoudis¹, Y. H. Chen⁶, A. Stamatopoulos⁷, J. Lerendegui-Marco², M. A. Cortés-Giraldo², A. Villacorta⁸, C. Guerrero², L. Damone³, L. Audouin⁶, E. Berthoumieux⁴, L. Cosentino⁹, M. Diakaki⁴, P. Finocchiaro⁹, A. Musumarra⁹^,10, T. Papaevangelou⁴, M. Piscopo⁹, L. Tassan-Got⁶, O. Aberle¹, J. Andrzejewski¹¹, V. Bécares¹², M. Bacak¹^,13, R. Baccomi¹⁴, J. Balibrea¹², S. Barros¹⁵, F. Bečvář¹⁶, C. Beinrucker¹⁷, F. Belloni³, J. Billowes¹⁸, D. Bosnar⁵, M. Brugger¹, M. Caamaño¹⁹, F. Calviño²⁰, M. Calviani¹, D. Cano-Ott¹², R. Cardella¹, A. Casanovas²⁰, D. M. Castelluccio²¹^,22, F. Cerutti¹, E. Chiaveri¹, G. Cortés²¹, K. Deo¹⁹, C. Domingo-Pardo²³, R. Dressler²⁴, E. Dupont⁴, I. Durán¹⁹, B. Fernández-Domínguez¹⁹, A. Ferrari¹, P. Ferreira¹⁵, R. J. W. Frost¹⁸, V. Furman²⁵, K. Göbel¹⁷, A. R. García¹², A. Gawlik¹¹, I. Gheorghe²⁶, T. Glodariu²⁶, I. F. Gonçalves¹⁵, E. González¹², A. Goverdovski²⁷, E. Griesmayer¹³, H. Harada²⁸, T. Heftrich¹⁷, S. Heinitz²⁴, A. Hernández-Prieto¹^,20, J. Heyse²⁹, D. G. Jenkins³⁰, E. Jericha¹³, F. Käppeler³¹, Y. Kadi¹, T. Katabuchi³², P. Kavrigin¹³, V. Ketlerov²⁷, V. Khryachkov²⁷, A. Kimura²⁸, N. Kivel²⁴, M. Kokkoris⁷, M. Krtička¹⁶, E. Leal-Cidoncha¹⁹, C. Lederer³³, H. Leeb¹³, M. Licata²²^,34, S. Lo Meo²¹^,22, S. J. Lonsdale³³, R. Losito¹, D. Macina¹, J. Marganiec¹¹, T. Martínez¹², C. Massimi²²^,34, P. Mastinu³⁵, M. Mastromarco³, F. Matteucci¹⁴^,36, E. A. Maugeri²⁴, E. Mendoza¹², A. Mengoni²¹, P. M. Milazzo¹⁴, F. Mingrone²²^,1, M. Mirea²⁶, S. Montesano¹, R. Nolte³⁷, A. Oprea²⁶, F. R. Palomo-Pinto³⁸, C. Paradela¹⁹, N. Patronis³⁹, A. Pavlik⁴⁰, J. Perkowski¹¹, J. I. Porras⁴¹, J. Praena²^,41, J. M. Quesada², K. Rajeev⁴², T. Rauscher⁴³^,44, R. Reifarth¹⁷, A. Riego-Perez²⁰, M. S. Robles¹⁹, P. C. Rout⁴², C. Rubbia¹, J. A. Ryan¹⁸, A. Saxena⁴², P. Schillebeeckx²⁹, S. Schmidt¹⁷, D. Schumann²⁴, P. Sedyshev²⁵, A. G. Smith¹⁸, S. V. Suryanarayana⁴², G. Tagliente³, J. L. Tain²³, A. Tarifeño-Saldivia²⁰^,23, A. Tsinganis⁷, S. Valenta¹⁶, G. Vannini²²^,34, V. Variale³, P. Vaz¹⁵, A. Ventura²², R. Vlastou⁷, A. Wallner⁴⁵, S. Warren¹⁸, M. Weigand¹⁷, C. Wolf¹⁷, P. J. Woods³³, C. Weiss¹^,13 and T. Wright¹⁸

¹ European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland
² Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
³ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, V. Orabona 4, 70125, Bari, Italy
⁴ CEA Irfu, Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁵ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
⁶ Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/IN2P3 - IPN, Orsay, France
⁷ National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece
⁸ University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
⁹ INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania, Italy
¹⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy
¹¹ University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
¹² Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Madrid, Spain
¹³ Technische Universität Wien, Wien, Austria
¹⁴ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, Trieste, Italy
¹⁵ Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal
¹⁶ Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
¹⁷ Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
¹⁸ University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
¹⁹ University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
²⁰ Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
²¹ Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie (ENEA), Bologna, Italy
²² Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
²³ Instituto de Física Corpuscular, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
²⁴ Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI), Villingen, Switzerland
²⁵ Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Dubna, Russia
²⁶ Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Măgurele, Romania
²⁷ Institute of Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE), Obninsk, Russia
²⁸ Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokai-mura, Japan
²⁹ European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Geel, Retieseweg 111, B-2440, Geel, Belgium
³⁰ University of York, York, UK
³¹ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus North, IKP, 76021, Karlsruhe, Germany
³² Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
³³ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
³⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
³⁵ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Legnaro, Legnaro, Italy
³⁶ Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università di Trieste, Trieste, Italy
³⁷ Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116, Braunschweig, Germany
³⁸ Depto. Ingeniería Electrónica, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
³⁹ University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
⁴⁰ University of Vienna, Faculty of Physics, Vienna, Austria
⁴¹ University of Granada, Granada, Spain
⁴² Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, India
⁴³ Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
⁴⁴ Department of Physics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
⁴⁵ Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

^* e-mail: massimo.barbagallo@ba.infn.it

Received: 30 June 2017
Accepted: 16 September 2017
Published online: 27 October 2017

Abstract

A new high flux experimental area has recently become operational at the n_TOF facility at CERN. This new measuring station, n_TOF-EAR2, is placed at the end of a vertical beam line at a distance of approximately 20m from the spallation target. The characterization of the neutron beam, in terms of flux, spatial profile and resolution function, is of crucial importance for the feasibility study and data analysis of all measurements to be performed in the new area. In this paper, the measurement of the neutron flux, performed with different solid-state and gaseous detection systems, and using three neutron-converting reactions considered standard in different energy regions is reported. The results of the various measurements have been combined, yielding an evaluated neutron energy distribution in a wide energy range, from 2meV to 100MeV, with an accuracy ranging from 2%, at low energy, to 6% in the high-energy region. In addition, an absolute normalization of the n_TOF-EAR2 neutron flux has been obtained by means of an activation measurement performed with ¹⁹⁷Au foils in the beam.

© SIF, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, 2017