Material radiopurity control in the XENONnT experiment

E Aprile; K Abe; F Agostini; S Ahmed Maouloud; M Alfonsi; L Althueser; E Angelino; J R Angevaare; V C Antochi; D Antón Martin; F Arneodo; L Baudis; A L Baxter; L Bellagamba; R Biondi; A Bismark; A Brown; S Bruenner; G Bruno; R Budnik; C Capelli; J M R Cardoso; D Cichon; B Cimmino; M Clark; A P Colijn; J Conrad; J J Cuenca-García; J P Cussonneau; V D'Andrea; M P Decowski; P Di Gangi; S Di Pede; A Di Giovanni; R Di Stefano; S Diglio; A Elykov; S Farrell; A D Ferella; H Fischer; W Fulgione; P Gaemers; R Gaior; M Galloway; F Gao; R Glade-Beucke; L Grandi; J Grigat; A Higuera; C Hils; K Hiraide; L Hoetzsch; J Howlett; M Iacovacci; Y Itow; J Jakob; F Joerg; N Kato; P Kavrigin; S Kazama; M Kobayashi; G Koltman; A Kopec; H Landsman; R F Lang; L Levinson; I Li; S Liang; S Lindemann; M Lindner; K Liu; F Lombardi; J Long; J A M Lopes; Y Ma; C Macolino; J Mahlstedt; A Mancuso; L Manenti; A Manfredini; F Marignetti; T Marrodán Undagoitia; K Martens; J Masbou; D Masson; E Masson; S Mastroianni; M Messina; K Miuchi; K Mizukoshi; A Molinario; S Moriyama; K Morå; Y Mosbacher; M Murra; K Ni; U Oberlack; J Palacio; R Peres; J Pienaar; M Pierre; V Pizzella; G Plante; J Qi; J Qin; D Ramírez García; S Reichard; A Rocchetti; N Rupp; L Sanchez; J M F Dos Santos; G Sartorelli; J Schreiner; D Schulte; H Schulze Eißing; M Schumann; L Scotto Lavina; M Selvi; F Semeria; P Shagin; E Shockley; M Silva; H Simgen; A Takeda; P L Tan; A Terliuk; C Therreau; D Thers; F Toschi; G Trinchero; C Tunnell; F Tönnies; K Valerius; G Volta; Y Wei; C Weinheimer; M Weiss; D Wenz; J Westermann; C Wittweg; T Wolf; Z Xu; M Yamashita; L Yang; J Ye; L Yuan; G Zavattini; Y Zhang; M Zhong; T Zhu; J P Zopounidis; XENON Collaboration; M Laubenstein; S Nisi

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-10345-6

Material radiopurity control in the XENONnT experiment

Eur Phys J C Part Fields. 2022;82(7):599. doi: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-10345-6. Epub 2022 Jul 8.

Authors

E Aprile¹, K Abe², F Agostini³, S Ahmed Maouloud⁴, M Alfonsi⁵, L Althueser⁶, E Angelino⁷, J R Angevaare⁸, V C Antochi⁹, D Antón Martin¹⁰, F Arneodo¹¹, L Baudis¹², A L Baxter¹³, L Bellagamba³, R Biondi¹⁴, A Bismark¹², A Brown¹⁵, S Bruenner^{8

16}, G Bruno^{11

17}, R Budnik¹⁸, C Capelli¹², J M R Cardoso¹⁹, D Cichon¹⁶, B Cimmino²⁰, M Clark¹³, A P Colijn^{8

21}, J Conrad⁹, J J Cuenca-García²², J P Cussonneau¹⁷, V D'Andrea^{14

23}, M P Decowski⁸, P Di Gangi³, S Di Pede⁸, A Di Giovanni¹¹, R Di Stefano²⁰, S Diglio¹⁷, A Elykov¹⁵, S Farrell²⁴, A D Ferella^{14

23}, H Fischer¹⁵, W Fulgione^{7

14}, P Gaemers⁸, R Gaior⁴, M Galloway¹², F Gao²⁵, R Glade-Beucke¹⁵, L Grandi¹⁰, J Grigat¹⁵, A Higuera²⁴, C Hils⁵, K Hiraide², L Hoetzsch¹⁶, J Howlett¹, M Iacovacci²⁰, Y Itow²⁶, J Jakob⁶, F Joerg¹⁶, N Kato², P Kavrigin¹⁸, S Kazama^{26

27}, M Kobayashi^{1

26}, G Koltman¹⁸, A Kopec¹³, H Landsman¹⁸, R F Lang¹³, L Levinson¹⁸, I Li²⁴, S Liang²⁴, S Lindemann¹⁵, M Lindner¹⁶, K Liu²⁵, F Lombardi^{5

19}, J Long¹⁰, J A M Lopes^{19

28}, Y Ma²⁹, C Macolino^{14

23}, J Mahlstedt⁹, A Mancuso³, L Manenti¹¹, A Manfredini¹², F Marignetti²⁰, T Marrodán Undagoitia¹⁶, K Martens², J Masbou¹⁷, D Masson¹⁵, E Masson^{4

30}, S Mastroianni²⁰, M Messina¹⁴, K Miuchi³¹, K Mizukoshi³¹, A Molinario¹⁴, S Moriyama², K Morå¹, Y Mosbacher¹⁸, M Murra⁶, K Ni²⁹, U Oberlack⁵, J Palacio¹⁶, R Peres¹², J Pienaar¹⁰, M Pierre¹⁷, V Pizzella¹⁶, G Plante¹, J Qi²⁹, J Qin¹³, D Ramírez García¹⁵, S Reichard^{12

22}, A Rocchetti¹⁵, N Rupp¹⁶, L Sanchez²⁴, J M F Dos Santos¹⁹, G Sartorelli³, J Schreiner¹⁶, D Schulte⁶, H Schulze Eißing⁶, M Schumann¹⁵, L Scotto Lavina⁴, M Selvi³, F Semeria³, P Shagin^{5

24}, E Shockley²⁹, M Silva¹⁹, H Simgen¹⁶, A Takeda², P L Tan⁹, A Terliuk¹⁶, C Therreau¹⁷, D Thers¹⁷, F Toschi¹⁵, G Trinchero⁷, C Tunnell²⁴, F Tönnies¹⁵, K Valerius²², G Volta¹², Y Wei²⁹, C Weinheimer⁶, M Weiss¹⁸, D Wenz⁵, J Westermann¹⁶, C Wittweg⁶, T Wolf¹⁶, Z Xu¹, M Yamashita², L Yang²⁹, J Ye¹, L Yuan¹⁰, G Zavattini^{3

32}, Y Zhang¹, M Zhong²⁹, T Zhu¹, J P Zopounidis⁴; XENON Collaboration; M Laubenstein¹⁴, S Nisi¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Physics Department, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 USA.
² Kamioka Observatory, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, and Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), University of Tokyo, Higashi-Mozumi, Kamioka Hida, Gifu 506-1205 Japan.
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna and INFN-Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
⁴ LPNHE, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, CNRS/IN2P3, 75005 Paris, France.
⁵ Institut für Physik & Exzellenzcluster PRISMA+, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Germany.
⁶ Institut für Kernphysik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
⁷ INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Torino, Department of Physics, University of Torino and INFN-Torino, 10125 Turin, Italy.
⁸ Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Science Park, 1098XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁹ Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁰ Department of Physics and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 USA.
¹¹ Particle and Planetary Physics, New York University Abu Dhabi-Center for Astro, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
¹² Physik-Institut, University of Zürich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
¹³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 USA.
¹⁴ INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.
¹⁵ Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
¹⁶ Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
¹⁷ SUBATECH, IMT Atlantique, CNRS/IN2P3, Université de Nantes, 44307 Nantes, France.
¹⁸ Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Rehovot, Israel.
¹⁹ LIBPhys, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, 3004-516 Coimbra, Portugal.
²⁰ Department of Physics "Ettore Pancini", University of Napoli and INFN-Napoli, 80126 Naples, Italy.
²¹ Institute for Subatomic Physics, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
²² Institute for Astroparticle Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany.
²³ Department of Physics and Chemistry, University of L'Aquila, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.
²⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005 USA.
²⁵ Department of Physics and Center for High Energy Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China.
²⁶ Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute for the Origin of Particles and the Universe, and Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602 Japan.
²⁷ Institute for Advanced Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, 464-8601 Japan.
²⁸ Coimbra Polytechnic-ISEC, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal.
²⁹ Department of Physics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA.
³⁰ Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab, 91405 Orsay, France.
³¹ Department of Physics, Kobe University, Kobe, Hyogo 657-8501 Japan.
³² INFN, Sez. di Ferrara and Dip. di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università di Ferrara, via G. Saragat 1, Edificio C, 44122 Ferrara, Italy.

Abstract

The selection of low-radioactive construction materials is of the utmost importance for rare-event searches and thus critical to the XENONnT experiment. Results of an extensive radioassay program are reported, in which material samples have been screened with gamma-ray spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and $^{222}$ Rn emanation measurements. Furthermore, the cleanliness procedures applied to remove or mitigate surface contamination of detector materials are described. Screening results, used as inputs for a XENONnT Monte Carlo simulation, predict a reduction of materials background ( $\sim$ 17%) with respect to its predecessor XENON1T. Through radon emanation measurements, the expected $^{222}$ Rn activity concentration in XENONnT is determined to be 4.2 ( $_{- 0.7}^{+ 0.5}$ ) $μ$ Bq/kg, a factor three lower with respect to XENON1T. This radon concentration will be further suppressed by means of the novel radon distillation system.