European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields (Sep 2023)
Simulation and background characterisation of the SABRE South experiment
- E. Barberio,
- T. Baroncelli,
- L. J. Bignell,
- I. Bolognino,
- G. Brooks,
- F. Dastgiri,
- G. D’Imperio,
- A. Di Giacinto,
- A. R. Duffy,
- M. Froehlich,
- G. Fu,
- M. S. M. Gerathy,
- G. C. Hill,
- S. Krishnan,
- G. J. Lane,
- G. Lawrence,
- K. T. Leaver,
- I. Mahmood,
- A. Mariani,
- P. McGee,
- L. J. McKie,
- P. C. McNamara,
- M. Mews,
- W. J. D. Melbourne,
- G. Milana,
- L. J. Milligan,
- J. Mould,
- F. Nuti,
- V. Pettinacci,
- F. Scutti,
- Z. Slavkovská,
- N. J. Spinks,
- O. Stanley,
- A. E. Stuchbery,
- G. N. Taylor,
- C. Tomei,
- P. Urquijo,
- C. Vignoli,
- A. G. Williams,
- Y. Y. Zhong,
- M. J. Zurowski
Affiliations
- E. Barberio
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- T. Baroncelli
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- L. J. Bignell
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University
- I. Bolognino
- Department of Physics, The University of Adelaide
- G. Brooks
- School of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology
- F. Dastgiri
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University
- G. D’Imperio
- INFN-Sezione di Roma
- A. Di Giacinto
- INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi (L’Aquila)
- A. R. Duffy
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology
- M. Froehlich
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University
- G. Fu
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- M. S. M. Gerathy
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- G. C. Hill
- Department of Physics, The University of Adelaide
- S. Krishnan
- School of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology
- G. J. Lane
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University
- G. Lawrence
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology
- K. T. Leaver
- Department of Physics, The University of Adelaide
- I. Mahmood
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- A. Mariani
- INFN-Sezione di Roma
- P. McGee
- Department of Physics, The University of Adelaide
- L. J. McKie
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University
- P. C. McNamara
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University
- M. Mews
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- W. J. D. Melbourne
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- G. Milana
- School of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology
- L. J. Milligan
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- J. Mould
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology
- F. Nuti
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- V. Pettinacci
- INFN-Sezione di Roma
- F. Scutti
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology
- Z. Slavkovská
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University
- N. J. Spinks
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University
- O. Stanley
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- A. E. Stuchbery
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University
- G. N. Taylor
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- C. Tomei
- INFN-Sezione di Roma
- P. Urquijo
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- C. Vignoli
- INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi (L’Aquila)
- A. G. Williams
- Department of Physics, The University of Adelaide
- Y. Y. Zhong
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications, The Australian National University
- M. J. Zurowski
- School of Physics, The University of Melbourne
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11817-z
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 83,
no. 9
pp. 1 – 16
Abstract
Abstract SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) is a direct detection dark matter experiment based on arrays of radio-pure NaI(Tl) crystals. The experiment aims at achieving an ultra-low background rate and its primary goal is to confirm or refute the results from the DAMA/LIBRA experiment. The SABRE Proof-of-Principle phase was carried out in 2020–2021 at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), in Italy. The next phase consists of two full-scale experiments: SABRE South at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory, in Australia, and SABRE North at LNGS. This paper focuses on SABRE South and presents a detailed simulation of the detector, which is used to characterise the background for dark matter searches including DAMA/LIBRA-like modulation. We estimate an overall background of 0.72 cpd/kg/ $$\hbox {keV}_{\hbox {{ee}}}$$ keV ee in the energy range 1–6 $$\hbox {keV}_{\hbox {{ee}}}$$ keV ee primarily due to radioactive contamination in the crystals. Given this level of background and considering that the SABRE South has a target mass of 50 kg, we expect to exclude (confirm) DAMA/LIBRA modulation at $$4~(5)\sigma $$ 4 ( 5 ) σ within 2.5 years of data taking.
