Measurement and modeling of muon-induced neutrons in LSM in application for direct dark matter searches

Due to a very low event rate expected in direct dark matter search experiments, a good understanding of every background component is crucial. Muon-induced neutrons constitute a prominent background, since neutrons lead to nuclear recoils and thus can mimic a potential dark matter signal. EDELWEISS is a Ge-bolometer experiment searching for WIMP dark matter. It is located in the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM, France). We have measured muon-induced neutrons by means of a neutron counter based on Gd-loaded liquid scintillator. Studies of muon-induced neutrons are presented and include development of the appropriate MC model based on Geant4 and analysis of a 1000-days measurement campaign in LSM. We find a good agreement between measured rates of muon-induced neutrons and those predicted by the developed model with full event topology. The impact of the neutron background on current EDELWEISS data-taking as well as for next generation experiments such as EURECA is briefly discussed