Eur. Phys. J. C (2017) 77: 890
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-5329-0

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Material radioassay and selection for the XENON1T dark matter experiment

¹ Laboratori Nazionli del Gran Sasso, Assergi, Italy
² Physics Department, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
³ Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Science Park, Amsterdam, Netherlands
⁴ INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila, Italy
⁵ Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Bologna and INFN-Bologna, Bologna, Italy
⁶ Institut für Physik and Exzellenzcluster PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany
⁷ LIBPhys, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, 3004-516, Coimbra, Portugal
⁸ New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
⁹ Physik Institut, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
¹⁰ Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, Stockholm, Sweden
¹¹ Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA
¹² Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany
¹³ Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
¹⁴ Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
¹⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
¹⁶ SUBATECH, Ecole des Mines de Nantes, CNRS/IN2P3, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France
¹⁷ Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
¹⁸ Institut für Kernphysik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
¹⁹ LPNHE, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, Paris, France
²⁰ INFN-Torino and Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Torino, Italy
²¹ Department of Physics and Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
²² Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
²³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

^* e-mail: xenon@lngs.infn.it

Received: 26 April 2017
Accepted: 24 October 2017
Published online: 19 December 2017

Abstract

The XENON1T dark matter experiment aims to detect weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) through low-energy interactions with xenon atoms. To detect such a rare event necessitates the use of radiopure materials to minimize the number of background events within the expected WIMP signal region. In this paper we report the results of an extensive material radioassay campaign for the XENON1T experiment. Using gamma-ray spectroscopy and mass spectrometry techniques, systematic measurements of trace radioactive impurities in over one hundred samples within a wide range of materials were performed. The measured activities allowed for stringent selection and placement of materials during the detector construction phase and provided the input for XENON1T detection sensitivity estimates through Monte Carlo simulations.