First Measurement of the Total Neutron Cross Section on Argon between 100 and 800 MeV

B Bhandari; J Bian; K Bilton; C Callahan; J Chaves; H Chen; D Cline; R L Cooper; D Danielson; J Danielson; N Dokania; S Elliott; S Fernandes; S Gardiner; G Garvey; V Gehman; F Giuliani; S Glavin; M Gold; C Grant; E Guardincerri; T Haines; A Higuera; J Y Ji; R Kadel; N Kamp; A Karlin; W Ketchum; L W Koerner; D Lee; K Lee; Q Liu; S Locke; W C Louis; A Manalaysay; J Maricic; E Martin; M J Martinez; S Martynenko; C Mauger; C McGrew; J Medina; P J Medina; A Mills; G Mills; J Mirabal-Martinez; A Olivier; E Pantic; B Philipbar; C Pitcher; V Radeka; J Ramsey; K Rielage; M Rosen; A R Sanchez; J Shin; G Sinnis; M Smy; W Sondheim; I Stancu; C Sterbenz; Y Sun; R Svoboda; C Taylor; A Teymourian; C Thorn; C E Tull; M Tzanov; R G Van de Water; D Walker; N Walsh; H Wang; Y Wang; C Yanagisawa; A Yarritu; J Yoo; CAPTAIN Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.042502

First Measurement of the Total Neutron Cross Section on Argon between 100 and 800 MeV

Phys Rev Lett. 2019 Jul 26;123(4):042502. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.042502.

Authors

B Bhandari¹, J Bian², K Bilton³, C Callahan⁴, J Chaves⁴, H Chen⁵, D Cline⁶, R L Cooper⁷, D Danielson³, J Danielson⁸, N Dokania⁹, S Elliott⁸, S Fernandes¹⁰, S Gardiner³, G Garvey⁸, V Gehman¹¹, F Giuliani¹², S Glavin⁴, M Gold¹², C Grant¹³, E Guardincerri⁸, T Haines⁸, A Higuera¹, J Y Ji⁹, R Kadel¹¹, N Kamp⁸, A Karlin⁴, W Ketchum⁸, L W Koerner¹, D Lee⁸, K Lee⁶, Q Liu⁸, S Locke², W C Louis⁸, A Manalaysay³, J Maricic¹⁴, E Martin⁶, M J Martinez⁸, S Martynenko⁹, C Mauger⁴, C McGrew⁹, J Medina⁸, P J Medina⁸, A Mills¹², G Mills⁸, J Mirabal-Martinez⁸, A Olivier¹⁵, E Pantic³, B Philipbar¹², C Pitcher², V Radeka⁵, J Ramsey⁸, K Rielage⁸, M Rosen¹⁴, A R Sanchez⁸, J Shin⁶, G Sinnis⁸, M Smy², W Sondheim⁸, I Stancu¹⁰, C Sterbenz⁸, Y Sun¹⁴, R Svoboda³, C Taylor⁸, A Teymourian⁶, C Thorn⁵, C E Tull¹¹, M Tzanov¹⁵, R G Van de Water⁸, D Walker¹⁵, N Walsh³, H Wang⁶, Y Wang⁶, C Yanagisawa⁹, A Yarritu⁸, J Yoo¹; CAPTAIN Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
³ Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
⁵ Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
⁷ Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA.
⁸ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487, USA.
¹¹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
¹² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA.
¹³ Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA.

PMID: 31491269
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.042502

Abstract

We report the first measurement of the neutron cross section on argon in the energy range of 100-800 MeV. The measurement was obtained with a 4.3-h exposure of the Mini-CAPTAIN detector to the WNR/LANSCE beam at LANL. The total cross section is measured from the attenuation coefficient of the neutron flux as it traverses the liquid argon volume. A set of 2631 candidate interactions is divided in bins of the neutron kinetic energy calculated from time-of-flight measurements. These interactions are reconstructed with custom-made algorithms specifically designed for the data in a time projection chamber the size of the Mini-CAPTAIN detector. The energy averaged cross section is 0.91±0.10(stat)±0.09(syst) b. A comparison of the measured cross section is made to the GEANT4 and FLUKA event generator packages, where the energy averaged cross sections in this range are 0.60 and 0.68 b, respectively.