The NuSol Detector: Design of a Space-Based Neutrino Detector to Study the Sun.
Abstract
Neutrinos produced by fusion processes in the Sun exit almost immediately, offering a unique insight into how the interior of the Sun works. A space-based detector inside the orbit of Mercury offers several benefits for neutrino detection. First, it would increase the neutrino flux due to the inverse square law. Second, it would allow for a different perspective of the solar dynamo because the detector would not be confined to the plane of the ecliptic. However, one has to show that an appropriate signal-to-noise ratio for neutrino detection is feasible, because neutrinos do not interact very often. Because such a detector must be much smaller than terrestrial neutrino detectors, neutrino interactions may be selected by a double-pulsing technique with the addition of a Gallium dopant without the light attenuation that may occur in a large volume. Noise will be reduced through the use of radiation shielding and a veto detector made of scintillating fiber. Results from the simulation of galactic cosmic ray protons and the diffuse gamma ray background using the Geant4 simulation toolkit will be presented, as well as the simulated response of neutrino signals in a liquid scintillator detector read out by photomultiplier tubes.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #233
- Pub Date:
- January 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AAS...23340104M