Detectors and Shieldings: Past and Future at LUNA

• DOI: 10.3390/universe10050228
• Publication Date: 2024-05-20T15:06:41Z
• Authors: Chemseddine Ananna; Lucia Barbieri; Axel Boeltzig; Matteo Campostrini; Fausto Casaburo; Alessandro Compag...; Laszlo Csedreki; Riccardo Maria Gesue; Jordan Marsh; Daniela Mercogliano; Denise Piatti; Duncan Robb; Ragandeep Singh S...; Jakub Skowronski
• Keywords: stellar nucleosynthesis; <i>γ</i>, <i>α</i> and neutron detectors; 0103 physical sciences; Elementary particle physics; underground nuclear astrophysics; passive shieldings; underground nuclear astrophysics; stellar nucleosynthesis; gamma, alpha and neutron detectors; passive shieldings; QC793-793.5; passive shieldings; stellar nucleosynthesis; underground nuclear astrophysics; γ, α and neutron detectors; 01 natural sciences

Nuclear reactions are responsible for the chemical evolution of stars, galaxies and the Universe. Unfortunately, at temperatures of interest for nuclear astrophysics, the cross-sections of the thermonuclear reactions are in the pico- femto-barn range and thus measuring them in the laboratory is extremely challenging. In this framework, major steps forward were made with the advent of underground nuclear astrophysics, pioneered by the Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics (LUNA). The cosmic background reduction by several orders of magnitude obtained at LUNA, however, needs to be combined with high-performance detectors and dedicated shieldings to obtain the required sensitivity. In the present paper, we report on the recent and future detector-shielding designs at LUNA.