Measurement of the Gamma Ray Background in the Davis Cavern at the Sanford Underground Research Facility
Creators: name: Akerib, D. S.
name: Akerlof, C. W.
name: Alsum, S. K.
name: Angelides, N.
name: Araújo, H. M.
name: Armstrong, J. E.
name: Arthurs, M.
name: Bai, X.
name: Balajthy, J.
name: Balashov, S.
name: Baxter, A.
name: Bernard, E. P.
name: Biekert, A.
name: Biesiadzinski, T. P.
name: Boast, K. E.
name: Boxer, B.
name: Brás, P.
name: Buckley, J. H.
name: Bugaev, V. V.
name: Burdin, S.
name: Busenitz, J. K.
name: Carels, C.
name: Carlsmith, D. L.
name: Carmona-Benitez, M. C.
name: Cascella, M.
name: Chan, C.
name: Cole, A.
name: Cottle, A.
name: Cutter, J. E.
name: Dahl, C. E.
name: de Viveiros, L.
name: Dobson, J. E. Y.
name: Druszkiewicz, E.
name: Edberg, T. K.
name: Fan, A.
name: Fiorucci, S.
name: Flaecher, H.
name: Fruth, T.
name: Gaitskell, R. J.
name: Genovesi, J.
name: Ghag, C.
name: Gilchriese, M. G. D.
name: Gokhale, S.
name: van der Grinten, M. G. D.
name: Hall, C. R.
name: Hans, S.
name: Harrison, J.
name: Haselschwardt, S. J.
name: Hertel, S. A.
name: Hor, J. Y-K.
name: Horn, M.
name: Huang, D. Q.
name: Ignarra, C. M.
name: Jahangir, O.
name: Ji, W.
name: Johnson, J.
name: Kaboth, A. C.
name: Kamdin, K.
name: Khaitan, D.
name: Khazov, A.
name: Kim, W. T.
name: Kocher, C. D.
name: Korley, L.
name: Korolkova, E. V.
name: Kras, J.
name: Kraus, H.
name: Kravitz, S. W.
name: Kreczko, L.
name: Krikler, B.
name: Kudryavtsev, V. A.
name: Leason, E. A.
name: Lee, J.
name: Leonard, D. S.
name: Lesko, K. T.
name: Levy, C.
name: Li, J.
name: Liao, J.
name: Liao, F. -T.
name: Lin, J.
name: Lindote, A.
name: Linehan, R.
name: Lippincott, W. H.
name: Liu, R.
name: Liu, X.
name: Loniewski, C.
name: Lopes, M. I.
name: Paredes, B. López
name: Lorenzon, W.
name: Luitz, S.
name: Lyle, J. M.
name: Majewski, P. A.
name: Manalaysay, A.
name: Manenti, L.
name: Mannino, R. L.
name: Marangou, N.
name: Marzioni, M. F.
name: McKinsey, D. N.
name: McLaughlin, J.
name: Meng, Y.
name: Miller, E. H.
name: Monzani, M. E.
name: Morad, J. A.
name: Morrison, E.
name: Mount, B. J.
name: Murphy, A. St. J.
name: Naim, D.
name: Naylor, A.
name: Nedlik, C.
name: Nehrkorn, C.
name: Nelson, H. N.
name: Neves, F.
name: Nikoleyczik, J.
name: Nilima, A.
name: Olcina, I.
name: Oliver-Mallory, K. C.
name: Pal, S.
name: Palladino, K. J.
name: Pease, E. K.
name: Penning, B. P.
name: Pereira, G.
name: Piepke, A.
name: Pushkin, K.
name: Reichenbacher, J.
name: Rhyne, C. A.
name: Riffard, Q.
name: Rischbieter, G. R. C.
name: Rodrigues, J. P.
name: Rosero, R.
name: Rossiter, P.
name: Rutherford, G.
name: Sazzad, A. B. M. R.
name: Schnee, R. W.
name: Schubnell, M.
name: Scovell, P. R.
name: Seymour, D.
name: Shaw, S.
name: Shutt, T. A.
name: Silk, J. J.
name: Silva, C.
name: Solmaz, M.
name: Solovov, V. N.
name: Sorensen, P.
name: Stancu, I.
name: Stevens, A.
name: Stiegler, T. M.
name: Stifter, K.
name: Szydagis, M.
name: Taylor, W. C.
name: Taylor, R.
name: Temples, D.
name: Terman, P. A.
name: Tiedt, D. R.
name: Timalsina, M.
name: Tomás, A
name: Tripathi, M.
name: Tvrznikova, L.
name: Utku, U.
name: Uvarov, S.
name: Vacheret, A.
name: Wang, J. J.
name: Watson, J. R.
name: Webb, R. C.
name: White, R. G.
name: Whitis, T. J.
name: Wolfs, F. L. H.
name: Woodward, D.
name: Yin, J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Deep underground environments are ideal for low background searches due to the attenuation of cosmic rays by passage through the earth. However, they are affected by backgrounds from $γ$-rays emitted by $^{40}$K and the $^{238}$U and $^{232}$Th decay chains in the surrounding rock. The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment will search for dark matter particle interactions with a liquid xenon TPC located within the Davis campus at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, Lead, South Dakota, at the 4,850-foot level. In order to characterise the cavern background, in-situ $γ$-ray measurements were taken with a sodium iodide detector in various locations and with lead shielding. The integral count rates (0--3300~keV) varied from 596~Hz to 1355~Hz for unshielded measurements, corresponding to a total flux in the cavern of $1.9\pm0.4$~$γ~$cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$. The resulting activity in the walls of the cavern can be characterised as $220\pm60$~Bq/kg of $^{40}$K, $29\pm15$~Bq/kg of $^{238}$U, and $13\pm3$~Bq/kg of $^{232}$Th.
description: 11 pages, 9 figures