Light detection and simulation for nEXO*

nEXO is a 5 tonne liquid xenon time projection chamber (TPC) that

aims to detect neutrinoless double beta decay in ¹³⁶Xe with a projected

90% CL half-life sensitivity of 1.35x10²⁸ yr. nEXO will be able to mea-

sure energy deposits from both ionization electrons and scintillation pho-

tons from events that occur inside the detector. Silicon photomultiplers

(SiPMs) will surround the sides of the TPC to detect scintillation light,

providing a more highly pixellated light collection system than most pre-

vious liquid Xe TPCs. With this design, the detector will have high light

collection efficiency and energy resolution of σ/Q_ββ < 1% as well as the

ability to image the location of interactions based on their light signals.

This talk presents the current characterization of candidate SiPMs and

simulation of the light response in the nEXO detector.