@article{8f0e4d336c2b4713a68f3c5cdfc3535c,
title = "An improved evaluation of the neutron background in the PandaX-II experiment",
abstract = "In dark matter direct detection experiments, neutron is a serious source of background, which can mimic the dark matter-nucleus scattering signals. In this paper, we present an improved evaluation of the neutron background in the PandaX-II dark matter experiment by a novel approach. Instead of fully relying on the Monte Carlo simulation, the overall neutron background is determined from the neutron-induced high energy signals in the data. In addition, the probability of producing a dark-matter-like background per neutron is evaluated with a complete Monte Carlo generator, where the correlated emission of neutron(s) and γ(s) in the (α, n) reactions and spontaneous fissions is taken into consideration. With this method, the neutron backgrounds in the Run 9 (26-ton-day) and Run 10 (28-ton-day) data sets of PandaX-II are estimated to be (0.66±0.24) and (0.47±0.25) events, respectively.",
keywords = "dark matter, direct detection, high energy gamma, neutron background, neutron generator, xenon",
author = "\{PandaX-II Collaboration\} and Wang, \{Qiu Hong\} and Abdusalam Abdukerim and Wei Chen and Xun Chen and Chen, \{Yun Hua\} and Cui, \{Xiang Yi\} and Fan, \{Ying Jie\} and Fang, \{De Qing\} and Fu, \{Chang Bo\} and Geng, \{Li Sheng\} and Karl Giboni and Franco Giuliani and Gu, \{Lin Hui\} and Guo, \{Xu Yuan\} and Ke Han and He, \{Chang Da\} and Di Huang and Yan Huang and Huang, \{Yan Lin\} and Zhou Huang and Peng Ji and Ji, \{Xiang Dong\} and Ju, \{Yong Lin\} and Lai, \{Yi Hui\} and Kun Liang and Liu, \{Hua Xuan\} and Liu, \{Jiang Lai\} and Ma, \{Wen Bo\} and Ma, \{Yu Gang\} and Mao, \{Ya Jun\} and Yue Meng and Parinya Namwongsa and Ni, \{Kai Xiang\} and Ning, \{Jin Hua\} and Ning, \{Xu Yang\} and Ren, \{Xiang Xiang\} and Shang, \{Chang Song\} and Lin Si and Tan, \{An Di\} and Wang, \{An Qing\} and Wang, \{Hong Wei\} and Meng Wang and Wang, \{Si Guang\} and Wang, \{Xiu Li\} and Zhou Wang and Wu, \{Meng Meng\} and Wu, \{Shi Yong\} and Xia, \{Jing Kai\} and Xiao, \{Meng Jiao\} and Xie, \{Peng Wei\}",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019, Science China Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.",
year = "2020",
month = mar,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1007/s11433-019-9603-9",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "63",
journal = "Science China: Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy",
issn = "1674-7348",
publisher = "Science China Press",
number = "3",
}