Abstract
Borexino, a large volume detector for low energy neutrino spectroscopy, is currently running underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. The main goal of the experiment is the real-time measurement of sub-MeV solar neutrinos, and particularly of the monoenergetic (862 keV) 7Be electron capture neutrinos, via neutrino-electron scattering in an ultra-pure liquid scintillator. This paper is mostly devoted to the description of the detector structure, the photomultipliers, the electronics, and the trigger and calibration systems. The real performance of the detector, which always meets, and sometimes exceeds, design expectations, is also shown. Some important aspects of the Borexino project, i.e. the fluid handling plants, the purification techniques and the filling procedures, are not covered in this paper and are, or will be, published elsewhere (see Introduction and Bibliography).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 568-593 |
Number of pages | 26 |
Journal | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment |
Volume | 600 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 11 Mar 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We sincerely thank the funding agencies: INFN (Italy), NSF (USA), BMBF, DFG and MPG (Germany), Rosnauka (Russia), MNiSW (Poland), and we acknowledge the generous support of the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. This work was also supported by the ILIAS integrating activity (Contract no. RII3-CT-2004-506222) as part of the EU FP6 program.
Keywords
- Liquid scintillators
- Low background detectors
- Solar neutrino