  Sunset solar axions traversing the intense magnetic field of the CERN Axion
Solar Telescope (CAST) experiment may be detected in a Time Projection Chamber
(TPC) detector, as X-rays signals. These signals could be masked, however, by
the inhomogeneous background of materials in the experimental site. A detailed
analysis, based on the detector characteristics, the background radiation at
the CAST site, simulations and experimental results, has allowed us to design a
shielding which reduces the background level by a factor of ~4 compared to the
detector without shielding, depending on its position, in the energy range
between 1 and 10 keV. Moreover, this shielding has improved the homogeneity of
background measured by the TPC.

Astrophysics