Overcoming intrinsic and beam-induced backgrounds at LUNA

Cosmic-ray induced background sets a limit in the sensitivity of γ-ray and neutron measurements for low-energy nuclear reactions. To achieve the high precision required by stellar models, measurements must be performed in a low-background environment as possible at deep underground laboratories. At the National Laboratory of Gran Sasso the 1400 m of rock overburden suppresses the most penetrating component of the cosmic rays (i.e. muons) by a factor 106 with respect to the Earth’s surface. In such an environment, during the last 30 years, the LUNA collaboration has performed several nuclear reaction cross-section measurements of interest for astrophysics, improving our understanding of scenarios like hydrogen burning, Big Bang nucleosynthesis and the s-process. In this work, some of the results achieved by the LUNA collaboration are discussed, with a focus on the reduction of intrinsic and beam-induced background.