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Improved STEREO simulation with a new gamma ray spectrum of excited gadolinium isotopes using FIFRELIN

The European Physical Journal A volume 55, Article number: 183 (2019) Cite this article

Abstract.

The STEREO experiment measures the electron antineutrino spectrum emitted in a research reactor using the inverse beta decay reaction on H nuclei in a gadolinium loaded liquid scintillator. The detection is based on a signal coincidence of a prompt positron and a delayed neutron capture event. The simulated response of the neutron capture on gadolinium is crucial for the comparison with data, in particular in the case of the detection efficiency. Among all stable isotopes, 155Gd and 157Gd have the highest cross sections for thermal neutron capture. The excited nuclei after the neutron capture emit gamma rays with a total energy of about 8MeV. The complex level schemes of 156Gd and 158Gd are a challenge for the modeling and prediction of the deexcitation spectrum, especially for compact detectors where gamma rays can escape the active volume. With a new description of the Gd (n,\( \gamma\)) cascades obtained using the FIFRELIN code, the agreement between simulation and measurements with a neutron calibration source was significantly improved in the STEREO experiment. A database of ten millions of deexcitation cascades for each isotope has been generated and is now available for the user.

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Acknowledgments

Open Access funding provided by Max Planck Society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany

    H. Almazán, A. Bonhomme, C. Buck, J. Haser, M. Lindner, C. Roca & S. Schoppmann

  2. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LPSC-IN2P3, 38000, Grenoble, France

    L. Bernard, S. Kox, J. Lamblin, J. -S. Réal, T. Salagnac, A. Stutz & M. Vialat

  3. IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    A. Blanchet, A. Bonhomme, I. El Atmani, A. Letourneau, D. Lhuillier, T. Materna, A. Minotti, V. Savu & L. Thulliez

  4. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS/IN2P3, LAPP, 74000, Annecy, France

    P. del Amo Sanchez, L. Labit, H. Pessard & V. Sergeyeva

  5. Institut Laue-Langevin, CS 20156, 38042, Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    F. Kandzia & T. Soldner

  6. CEA, DEN, DER, SPRC, F-13108, Saint Paul Lez Durance, France

    A. Chebboubi & O. Litaize

Authors
  1. H. Almazán
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  2. L. Bernard
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  3. A. Blanchet
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  4. A. Bonhomme
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  5. C. Buck
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  6. A. Chebboubi
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  7. P. del Amo Sanchez
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  8. I. El Atmani
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  9. J. Haser
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  10. F. Kandzia
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  11. S. Kox
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  12. L. Labit
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  13. J. Lamblin
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  14. A. Letourneau
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  15. D. Lhuillier
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  16. M. Lindner
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  17. O. Litaize
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  18. T. Materna
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  19. A. Minotti
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  20. H. Pessard
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  21. J. -S. Réal
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  22. C. Roca
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  23. T. Salagnac
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  24. V. Savu
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  25. S. Schoppmann
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  26. V. Sergeyeva
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  27. T. Soldner
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  28. A. Stutz
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  29. L. Thulliez
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  30. M. Vialat
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Bonhomme.

Additional information

Data Availability Statement

This manuscript has associated data in a data repository. [Authors’ comment: We make available ten millions of deexcitation cascades for each isotope at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2653786, since other running and upcoming projects might profit from these data as well.]

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Communicated by C. Broggini

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Almazán, H., Bernard, L., Blanchet, A. et al. Improved STEREO simulation with a new gamma ray spectrum of excited gadolinium isotopes using FIFRELIN. Eur. Phys. J. A 55, 183 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2019-12886-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2019-12886-y