16N as a calibration source for Super-Kamiokande

Abstract The decay of 16 N is used to cross check the absolute energy scale calibration for solar neutrinos established by the electron linear accelerator (LINAC). A deuterium–tritium neutron generator was employed to create 16 N via the (n,p) reaction on 16 O in the water of the detector. This technique is isotropic and has different systematic uncertainties than the LINAC. The results from this high-statistics data sample agree with the absolute energy scale of the LINAC to better than 1%. A natural source of 16 N from the capture of μ − on 16 O, which is collected as a background to the solar neutrino analysis, is also discussed.