Speaker
Daniel Davee
(William and Mary)
Description
PROSPECT will measure the antineutrino flux close to a research reactor core, where little-to-no cosmic-ray attenuating over- burden is available. Therefore, a detailed understanding of the
background radiation fields is necessary. While time correlated detection of the products of Inverse Beta Decay (IBD), ${\nu+p\rightarrow e^{+}+n}$, provides powerful background rejection,
greater background reduction is required for near-surface operation. Monte Carlo studies and validation with surface measurements have allowed PROSPECT to develop a detailed understanding of how
near surface backgrounds differ from those experiments with significant overburden, how they can mimic signals of antineutrino interactions, and the originating particles and generation
mechanisms. This poster describes the important features of near-surface cosmogenic backgrounds and how detector design features such as shielding, segmentation, and particle identification can be
used for background mitigation.
Author
Daniel Davee
(William and Mary)
