Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2021
Volume 66, Number 5
Saturday–Tuesday, April 17–20, 2021; Virtual; Time Zone: Central Daylight Time, USA
Session H20: Argon and Xenon TPCsLive
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Sponsoring Units: DPF Chair: Andre De Gouvea, Northwestern University |
Sunday, April 18, 2021 10:45AM - 10:57AM Live |
H20.00001: Doping the MicroBooNE LArTPC With Radon Ivan Lepetic We present a plan to dope MicroBooNE, an 85-ton active-volume liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) located at Fermilab, with radon. MicroBooNE has been successfully detecting $\sim$GeV energy neutrinos from the Booster Neutrino Beam since 2015, however few studies have been performed at MeV energies. The associated decay activity from the radon will allow us to study detector properties not easily accessible at higher energies, namely MeV-scale energy resolution and electron diffusion. Such studies are especially important for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), a multi-kiloton-scale, next-generation long-baseline experiment and its low-energy physics goals, such as supernova neutrino reconstruction. This talk will present an overview of the doping program, its goals and its benefits to future LArTPCs. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 18, 2021 10:57AM - 11:09AM Live |
H20.00002: Physics performance of a PCB-based pixelated LArTPC anode (LArPix) Peter Madigan Collection of true 3D ionization information in liquid argon time-projection chambers (LArTPCs) enables their use in higher-occupancy environments. A scalable 3D charge-readout scheme utilizing a custom-designed cryogenic 64-channel ASIC (LArPix-v2) and a PCB-based anode has been developed. To demonstrate the capabilities of this system, a large-format 4,900-pixel anode has been built and successfully tested in a 40-kg LArTPC with 30-cm drift (SingleCube). The results from a study of cosmic ray muons imaged with SingeCube will be presented. This demonstration paves the way for using large-scale pixel-based readout in LArTPCs, such as the DUNE Near Detector. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 18, 2021 11:09AM - 11:21AM Live |
H20.00003: LArPix-v2: a commercially scalable large-format 3D charge-readout scheme for LArTPCs Brooke Russell 3D ionization information facilitates unambiguous mm-scale fine-tracking in high occupancy liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) environments. LArPix-v2 incorporates low-power 64-channel custom ASICs with a mixed-signal large-format printed circuit board for an unambiguous 3D charge-readout anode. With robust I/O and control architecture, a 10-by-10 array of ASICs instrument a 4,900-pixel PCB-based anode. The system is compatible with standard large-scale commercial electronics production techniques, enabling low-cost quick-turn production. Here I present a system design overview alongside LArPix-v2 ASIC and pixel anode tile benchmark performance evaluation. This system will be deployed in upcoming ProtoDUNE-ND LArTPC physics operation. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 18, 2021 11:21AM - 11:33AM Live |
H20.00004: Low Threshold Operation of a Scintillating Xenon Bubble Chamber Matthew Bressler Coincident bubble nucleation and scintillation by background and $^{252}$Cf spontaneous fission neutrons in pure superheated liquid xenon were first reported in 2017 with a 30 g prototype bubble chamber, operated at nuclear recoil thresholds above 4 keV. The apparatus was subsequently modified to allow for operation at higher degrees of superheat (lower nuclear recoil thresholds). We now report on operation of the xenon bubble chamber at thermodynamic thresholds as low as 0.5 keV, including tests of bubble nucleation associated with gamma rays, and sensitivity to low energy neutrons from a $^{88}$Y-Be photoneutron source. Additionally, these results again demonstrate coincident bubble nucleation and scintillation with $^{252}$Cf and background neutrons, and the scintillation channel allows us to make a background-reducing cut for a nuclear recoil efficiency analysis. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 18, 2021 11:33AM - 11:45AM Live |
H20.00005: Electronic and nuclear recoil discrimination in xenon TPCs with the PIXeY experiment Vetri Velan The two-phase liquid/gas xenon time projection chamber is one of the leading technologies used for dark matter direct detection. World-leading limits on dark matter interactions have been set by LUX and XENON1T, and the LZ and XENONnT experiments seek to push further. A crucial part of using this technology is being able to classify energy deposits as nuclear recoils (NR) or electronic recoils (ER). In my talk, I will present an analysis of ER-NR discrimination, using data from the PIXeY (Particle Identification in Xenon at Yale) experiment. PIXeY was an R&D-scale xenon TPC that operated at drift fields between 50 and 2000 V/cm; its data allows us to study discrimination across this wide range of electric drift fields, as well as the dependence of discrimination on recoil energy. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 18, 2021 11:45AM - 11:57AM Live |
H20.00006: Development of a Xenon-Doped Dual-Phase Argon Time Projection Chamber Eli Mizrachi, Nathaniel Bowden, Igor Jovanovic, Ethan Bernard, Sergey Pereverzev, Teal Pershing, David Trimas, Jingke Xu Utilizing a ppm level of xenon dopant in the gas region of a dual-phase argon time projection chamber (TPC) presents the enticing prospect of enhanced electroluminescence with xenon, and low-mass particle detection with argon. However, at low temperatures xenon is known to remain in the liquid bulk due to its low vapor pressure, and it is liable to deposit on surfaces when exposed to cold components in the gas phase. This further complicates circulation, which must maintain a stable mixture and composition without disturbing equilibrium between the liquid and gas phases. These details introduce novel technical challenges, as successfully boosting electroluminescence requires at least 10ppm of xenon in the gas phase. Nevertheless, the possibility of realizing the benefits from both argon and xenon has compelled the development of CoHerent Ionization Limits in Liquid Argon and Xenon (CHILLAX), a new xenon-doped, dual-phase argon TPC. This talk will examine the specially tailored systems used in CHILLAX that are expected to avoid xenon freezeout, including direct detector cooling, and gas-phase circulation. Recent developments with CHILLAX, as well as the relevant technical background behind cryogenic mixtures of xenon and argon will also be discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 18, 2021 11:57AM - 12:09PM Live |
H20.00007: Correlated Single- and Few-Electron Backgrounds in Xenon Detectors Abigail Kopec Dual-phase liquid xenon time projection chambers are world-leading dark matter detectors. Currently, their detection sensitivity to light dark matter particles, such as WIMPs with masses below 3GeV, is limited by a high background of small (\textless 5 electrons) ionization signals. The rates of these backgrounds decrease according to power laws for milliseconds after energetic interactions and their apparent positions in the detector correlate to the location of the preceding energy deposition. I present work using Purdue University's experimental detector to investigate how these backgrounds behave under different detector conditions. We measured how these backgrounds depend on extraction field, drift field, and measured depth of the initial interaction. We also explored the effect of shining 1 Watt of infrared (1550nm) light in the detector. I present our new understanding of these backgrounds as a step toward mitigating them in future dark matter detectors. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 18, 2021 12:09PM - 12:21PM Live |
H20.00008: Observables for Recoil Identification in Gas Time Projection Chambers Majd Ghrear Directional detection of nuclear recoils is appealing because it can confirm the cosmological origin of a dark matter signal and distinguish between different neutrino sources. Gas Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) enable directional recoil detection due to the high spatial granularity with which they can image a recoil's ionization track, especially if micro-pattern gaseous detectors (MPGDs) are utilized. A key challenge in these detectors at low energies is identifying and rejecting background electron recoil events caused by gamma rays from radioactive contaminants in the detector materials and the environment. For gas TPCs with high readout segmentation, we can define observables that can distinguish electron and nuclear recoils, even at keV-scale energies, based on the measured ionization's topology. We define such observables and show that they outperform the traditionally used discriminant, dE/dx, by up to three orders of magnitude. Furthermore, these new observables work well even at ionization energies below 10 keV and remain robust even in the regime where directionality fails. [Preview Abstract] |
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