Characterization of Radioactive Backgrounds for the Snowball Dark Matter Detector
Open Access
Author:
Ratvasky, Rachel
Area of Honors:
Physics
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Maria Del Carmen Carmona Benitez, Thesis Supervisor Richard Wallace Robinett, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
physics dark matter
Abstract:
The Snowball Chamber is an R&D project investigating the application of supercooled water as target for dark matter direct detection. The temperature of water in detectors sets the energy threshold. We hypothesize that the leading factor limiting lower temperatures is radioactive backgrounds: particles found naturally in the environment trigger nucleation and freezing in the detector, reducing active time. We completed preliminary calculations of neutrons, the dominant backgrounds, and found that the expected neutron interaction rate is consistent with the event rate observed in a prototype detector.
