title: Rayleigh scattering of linear alkylbenzene in large liquid scintillator detectors.
abstract: Rayleigh scattering poses an intrinsic limit for the transparency of organic liquid scintillators. This work focuses on the Rayleigh scattering length of linear alkylbenzene (LAB), which will be used as the solvent of the liquid scintillator in the central detector of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory. We investigate the anisotropy of the Rayleigh scattering in LAB, showing that the resulting Rayleigh scattering length will be significantly shorter than reported before. Given the same overall light attenuation, this will result in a more efficient transmission of photons through the scintillator, increasing the amount of light collected by the photosensors and thereby the energy resolution of the detector.
authors.affiliation: Hubei Nuclear Solid Physics Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, and School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics and EC PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wurm
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Science and Technology, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
authors.forename: Qingmin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yayun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Hubei Nuclear Solid Physics Key Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, and School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Zhenyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yangheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Yifang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang