9Li and 8He decays in GEANT4

TL;DR

This paper improves the modeling of $^9$Li and $^8$He decays in GEANT4, crucial for accurate background estimation in reactor antineutrino experiments, by implementing correct nuclear decay chains and validating against experimental data.

Contribution

The authors introduced a corrected decay treatment for $^9$Li and $^8$He in GEANT4, aligning the simulation with nuclear measurements and improving background modeling accuracy.

Findings

Enhanced decay modeling in GEANT4 matches experimental spectra.

Significant correction of previous gamma-emission decay assumptions.

Improved background predictions for reactor neutrino experiments.

Abstract

The decays of cosmogenic nuclei such as $^9$Li and $^8$He represent one of the largest irreducible backgrounds for reactor antineutrino experiments. The correct treatment of such decays are of fundamental importance in the study of cosmogenic backgrounds and in their rejection, hence the full chain of intermediate excited states must be accounted for. Currently the treatment in GEANT4 of the modelling of de-excitation of $^9$Be and $^8$Li, which are the daughter nuclei of $^9$Li and $^8$He respectively, is not correct. $^9$Be excited states should break into a neutron and two $\alpha$'s, and $^8$Li excited states should emit a neutron and possibly an $\alpha$ and a triton depending on the decay chain, whereas in GEANT4 they both reach the ground state by emitting a gamma. Based on the available nuclear measurements we included the correct treatment of $^9$Li and $^8$He decays in GEANT4 and compared the obtained results with the spectra published by the Double Chooz collaboration finding an excellent agreement.