Calibration and performance of the neutron detector onboard of the DAMPE mission

TL;DR

This paper details the design, calibration, and performance evaluation of DAMPE's neutron detector, demonstrating its effectiveness in distinguishing high-energy electrons from hadron background for dark matter research.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive overview of the neutron detector's calibration and performance, highlighting its crucial role in DAMPE's scientific objectives.

Findings

Neutron detector shows high proton rejection capability.

Calibration results confirm detector's accuracy.

Performance analysis indicates effective electron-hadron discrimination.

Abstract

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), one of the four space-based scientific missions within the framework of the Strategic Pioneer Program on Space Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been successfully launched on Dec. 17th 2015 from Jiuquan launch center. One of the most important scientific goals of DAMPE is to search for the evidence of dark matter indirectly by measuring the spectrum of high energy cosmic-ray electrons. The neutron detector, one of the four sub-payloads of DAMPE, is designed to distinguish high energy electrons from hadron background by measuring the secondary neutrons produced in the shower. In this paper, a comprehensive introduction of the neutron detector is presented, including the design, the calibration and the performance. The analysis with simulated data and flight data indicates a powerful proton rejection capability of the neutron detector, which plays an essential role for TeV electron identification of DAMPE.