https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-013-2390-1
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
Measurement of the proton light response of various LAB based scintillators and its implication for supernova neutrino detection via neutrino–proton scattering
1
Institut für Kern- und Teilchenphysik, Technische Universität Dresden, 01069, Dresden, Germany
2
Physikalisch–Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116, Braunschweig, Germany
3
Institut für Experimentelle Kernphysik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany
* e-mail: belina.von_krosigk@tu-dresden.de
Received:
22
January
2013
Published online:
12
April
2013
The proton light output function in electron-equivalent energy of various scintillators based on linear alkylbenzene (LAB) has been measured in the energy range from 1 MeV to 17.15 MeV for the first time. The measurement was performed at the Physikalisch–Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) using a neutron beam with continuous energy distribution. The proton light output data is extracted from proton recoil spectra originating from neutron–proton scattering in the scintillator. The functional behavior of the proton light output is described successfully by Birks’ law with a Birks constant kB between (0.0094±0.0002) cm MeV−1 and (0.0098±0.0003) cm MeV−1 for the different LAB solutions. The constant C, parameterizing the quadratic term in the generalized Birks law, is consistent with zero for all investigated scintillators with an upper limit (95 % CL) of about 10−7 cm2 MeV−2. The resulting quenching factors are especially important for future planned supernova neutrino detection based on the elastic scattering of neutrinos on protons. The impact of proton quenching on the supernova event yield from neutrino–proton scattering is discussed.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg and Società Italiana di Fisica, 2013
