The origin of the background radioactive isotope ¹²⁷Xe in the sample of Xe enriched in ¹²⁴Xe

The results of investigation of ¹²⁷Xe radioactive isotope production in the xenon sample enriched in ¹²⁴Xe, ¹²⁶Xe, ¹²⁸Xe are presented. The isotope is supposed to be the source of the background events in the low-background experiment on search for 2K-capture of ¹²⁴Xe. In this work we consider two channels of ¹²⁷Xe production: the neutron knock-out from ¹²⁸Xe nucleus by cosmogenic muons and the neutron capture by ¹²⁶Xe nucleus. For the first channel the upper limit of the cross section of ¹²⁷Xe production was found to be σ ≤ 0.007 × 10⁻²⁴ cm² at 95% C.L. For the second channel the value obtained for the cross section was found to be equal to σ = (2.74 ± 0.4) × 10⁻²⁴ cm², which coincides well, within the statistical error, with reference value.