Cosmogenic neutron production in water at SNO +

Accurate measurement of the cosmogenic muon-induced neutron yield is crucial for constraining a significant background in a wide range of low-energy physics searches. Although previous underground experiments have measured this yield across various cosmogenic muon energies, SNO + is uniquely positioned due to its exposure to one of the highest average cosmogenic muon energies at 364 GeV. Using ultrapure water, we have determined a neutron yield of Y n = ( 3.3 8 − 0.30 + 0.23 ) × 10 − 4 cm 2 g − 1 μ − 1 at SNO + . Comparison with simulations demonstrates clear agreement with the neutron production model, highlighting discrepancies with the widely used 4 model. Furthermore, this measurement reveals a lower cosmogenic neutron yield than that observed by the SNO experiment, which used heavy water under identical muon flux conditions. This result provides new evidence that nuclear structure and target material composition significantly influence neutron production by cosmogenic muons, offering fresh insight with important implications for the design and background modeling of future underground experiments.