Cosmic Ray induced Neutron and Gamma-Ray bursts in a Lead Pile

Chapline, G ; Hagmann, C ; Kerr, P ; Snyderman, N J ; Wurtz, R

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

关键词: Fission;    Efficiency;    Neutrons;    Detection;    72 Physics Of Elementary Particles And Fields;   

DOI  :  10.2172/908901
RP-ID  :  UCRL-TR-230895
RP-ID  :  W-7405-ENG-48
RP-ID  :  908901

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The neutron background is created primarily by cosmic rays interactions. Of particular interest for SNM detection is an understanding of burst events that resemble fission chains. We have been studying the interaction of cosmic rays with a lead pile that is efficient at creating neutron bursts from cosmic ray interactions. The neutron burst size depends on the configuration of the lead. We have found that the largest bursts appear to have been created by primaries of energy over 100 GeV that have had a diffractive interaction with the atmosphere. The large events trigger muon coincidence paddles with very high efficiency, and the resulting interactions with the lead pile can create over 10, 000 neutrons in a burst.