PRELIMINARY RESULTS ON NEUTRON BACKGROUND INDUCEDBY MUONS IN A SHALLOW UNDERGROUND LABORATORY:BARADELLO UNDERGROUND LABORATORY IN COMO

In the next future the relevance of shallow-depth underground laboratories as experimental sites for the study of low energy rare events of cosmic origin will increase. In such laboratories the natural background can give a relevant contribution to the recorded events and must be understood as much accurately as possible. In some kind of experiments, noticeably those aiming to dark matter detection, a main role is played by neutrons which can be generated by natural radioactivity or as the result of the interaction of muons with the rocks surrounding the detector. In this view we started a project aiming at studying such contribution both by measurements and Monte Carlo simulations.