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Cosmogenic radio-nuclei are an important source of background for low-energy neutrino experiments. In Borexino, cosmogenic $^{11}$C decays outnumber solar $pep$ and CNO neutrino events by about ten to one. Highly efficient identification of this background is mandatory for these neutrino analyses. We present here the details of the most consolidated strategy, used throughout Borexino solar neutrino measurements. It hinges upon finding the space-time correlations between $^{11}$C decays, the preceding parent muons and the accompanying neutrons. This article describes the working principles and evaluates the performance of this Three-Fold Coincidence (TFC) technique in its two current implementations: a hard-cut and a likelihood-based approach. Both show stable performances throughout Borexino Phases II (2012-2016) and III (2016-2020) data sets, with a $^{11}$C tagging efficiency of $sim$90 % and $sim$63-66 % of the exposure surviving the tagging. We present also a novel technique that targets specifically $^{11}$C produced in high-multiplicity during major spallation events. Such $^{11}$C appear as a burst of events, whose space-time correlation can be exploited. Burst identification can be combined with the TFC to obtain about the same tagging efficiency of $sim$90 % but with a higher fraction of the exposure surviving, in the range of $sim$66-68 %.
We report on studies of non-toxic scintillating liquid useful for large surface detectors. Arrays of liquid scintillators offer a rather simple tool for detecting charged particles traversing a surface and tracking their path through a defined volume
The solar neutrino experiment Borexino, which is located in the Gran Sasso underground laboratories, is in a unique position to study muon-induced backgrounds in an organic liquid scintillator. In this study, a large sample of cosmic muons is identif
Pulse shape discrimination in liquid scintillator detectors is a well-established technique for the discrimination of heavy particles from light particles. Nonetheless, it is not efficient in the separation of electrons and positrons, as they give ri
Semiconductor nanoparticles (quantum dots) were studied in the context of liquid scintillator development for upcoming neutrino experiments. The unique optical and chemical properties of quantum dots are particularly promising for the use in neutrino
Borexino, a liquid scintillator detector at LNGS, is designed for the detection of neutrinos and antineutrinos from the Sun, supernovae, nuclear reactors, and the Earth. The feeble nature of these signals requires a strong suppression of backgrounds