Measurement of the Atmospheric Muon Rate with the MicroBooNE Liquid Argon TPC
MicroBooNE collaboration, C. Adams, M. Alrashed, R. An, J. Anthony, J. Asaadi, A. Ashkenazi, S. Balasubramanian, B. Baller, C. Barnes, G. Barr, V. Basque, M. Ba… 展开作者
MicroBooNE collaboration, C. Adams, M. Alrashed, R. An, J. Anthony, J. Asaadi, A. Ashkenazi, S. Balasubramanian, B. Baller, C. Barnes, G. Barr, V. Basque, M. Bass, F. Bay, S. Berkman, A. Bhanderi, A. Bhat, M. Bishai, A. Blake, T. Bolton, L. Camilleri, D. Caratelli, I. Caro Terrazas, R. Carr, R. Castillo Fernandez, F. Cavanna, G. Cerati, Y. Chen, E. Church, D. Cianci, E. O. Cohen, J. M. Conrad, M. Convery, L. Cooper-Troendle, J. I. Crespo-Anadon, M. Del Tutto, D. Devitt, A. Diaz, L. Domine, K. Duffy, S. Dytman, B. Eberly, A. Ereditato, L. Escudero Sanchez, J. J. Evans, R. S. Fitzpatrick, B. T. Fleming, N. Foppiani, D. Franco, A. P. Furmanski, D. Garcia-Gamez, S. Gardiner, V. Genty, D. Goeldi, S. Gollapinni, O. Goodwin, E. Gramellini, P. Green, H. Greenlee, R. Grosso, L. Gu, W. Gu, R. Guenette, P. Guzowski, P. Hamilton, O. Hen, C. Hill, G. A. Horton-Smith, A. Hourlier, E. C. Huang, R. Itay, C. James, J. Jan de Vries, X. Ji, L. Jiang, J. H. Jo, R. A. Johnson, J. Joshi, Y. J. Jwa, G. Karagiorgi, W. Ketchum, B. Kirby, M. Kirby, T. Kobilarcik, I. Kreslo, I. Lepetic, Y. Li, A. Lister, B. R. Littlejohn, S. Lockwitz, D. Lorca, W. C. Louis, M. Luethi, B. Lundberg, X. Luo, A. Marchionni, S. Marcocci, C. Mariani, J. Marshall, J. Martin-Albo, D. A. Martinez Caicedo, K. Mason, A. Mastbaum, N. McConkey, V. Meddage, T. Mettler, K. Miller, J. Mills, K. Mistry, T. Mohayai, A. Mogan, J. Moon, M. Mooney, C. D. Moore, J. Mousseau, M. Murphy, R. Murrells, D. Naples, R. K. Neely, P. Nienaber, J. Nowak, O. Palamara, V. Pandey, V. Paolone, A. Papadopoulou, V. Papavassiliou, S. F. Pate, A. Paudel, Z. Pavlovic, E. Piasetzky, D. Porzio, S. Prince, G. Pulliam, X. Qian, J. L. Raaf, V. Radeka, A. Rafique, L. Ren, L. Rochester, H. E. Rogers, M. Ross-Lonergan, C. Rudolf von Rohr, B. Russell, G. Scanavini, D. W. Schmitz, A. Schukraft, W. Seligman, M. H. Shaevitz, R. Sharankova, J. Sinclair, A. Smith, E. L. Snider, M. Soderberg, S. Soldner-Rembold, S. R. Soleti, P. Spentzouris, J. Spitz, M. Stancari, J. St. John, T. Strauss, K. Sutton, S. Sword-Fehlberg, A. M. Szelc, N. Tagg, W. Tang, K. Terao, R. T. Thornton, M. Toups, Y. -T. Tsai, S. Tufanli, M. A. Uchida, T. Usher, W. Van De Pontseele, R. G. Van de Water, B. Viren, M. Weber, H. Wei, D. A. Wickremasinghe, Z. Williams, S. Wolbers, T. Wongjirad, K. Woodruff, M. Wospakrik, W. Wu, T. Yang, G. Yarbrough, L. E. Yates, G. P. Zeller, J. Zennamo, C. Zhang
MicroBooNE is a near-surface liquid argon (LAr) time projection chamber (TPC) located at Fermilab. We measure the characterisation of muons originating from cosmic interactions in the atmosphere using both the charge collection and light readout detectors. The data is compared with the CORSIKA cosmic-ray simulation. Good agreement is found between the observation, simulation and previous results. Furthermore, the angular resolution of the reconstructed muons inside the TPC is studied in simulation.
Measuring the argon purity is critical for all Ar-based rare event research experiments. Mass spectrometry is typically used to assess the uranium and thorium contamination in samples of the materials used to build low-background detectors; however, this technique has the potential to provide other valuable information that is currently not exploited. We have shown that, by ICP-MS, it is possible to identify and quantify common chemical contaminants in argon. Preliminary tests were done with the gas extracted from the experiments MicroBooNE at FNAL and ArDM at LSC. In the former case, we evide…
The MicroBooNE experiment is a liquid argon TPC experiment designed for short-baseline neutrino physics, currently running at Fermilab. Due to its location near the surface, cosmic muons can be a source of backgrounds to many analyses and having a good understanding of the cosmic rays will be very valuable for the experiment. These proceedings describe the physics motivation, setup, and performance of a small external muon counter system, which will provide improved calibration for the liquid argon TPC and better understanding of the cosmogenic background.
MicroBooNE (the Micro Booster Neutrino Experiment) is a short-baseline neutrino experiment based on the technology of a liquid-argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC), and has recently completed its first year of data-taking in the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam. It aims to address the anomalous excess of events with an electromagnetic final state in MiniBooNE, to measure neutrino-argon interaction cross sections, and to provide relevant R\&D for the future LArTPC experiments, such as DUNE. In these proceedings, we present the first reconstructed energy spectrum of Michel electrons from cosmic …
The proliferation of liquid argon time projection chamber detectors makes the characterization of the dielectric properties of liquid argon a critical task. To improve understanding of these properties, a systematic study of the breakdown electric field in liquid argon was conducted using a dedicated cryostat connected to the MicroBooNE cryogenic system at Fermilab. An electrode sphere-plate geometry was implemented using spheres with diameters of 1.3 mm, 5.0 mm, and 76 mm. The MicroBooNE cryogenic system allowed measurements to be taken at a variety of electronegative contamination levels ran…
We compare the observed charged particle multiplicity distributions in the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber from neutrino interactions in a restricted final state phase space to predictions of this distribution from several GENIE models. The measurement uses a data sample consisting of neutrino interactions with a final state muon candidate fully contained within the MicroBooNE detector. These data were collected in 2015-2016 with the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB), which has an average neutrino energy of 800 MeV, using an exposure corresponding to 5e19 protons-on-target. …
ARGONTUBE is a liquid argon time projection chamber (TPC) with an electron drift length of up to 5 m equipped with cryogenic charge-sensitive preamplifiers. In this work, we present results on its performance including a comparison of the new cryogenic charge-sensitive preamplifiers with the previously used room-temperature-operated charge preamplifiers.
The use of xenon-doped liquid argon is a promising alternative for large pure liquid-argon TPCs. Not only xenon-doped liquid argon enhances the light production, mitigating the possible suppression due to impurities, but also it increases the wavelength of the scintillation light, enlarging the effective Rayleigh scattering length and improving the detection uniformity. ProtoDUNE Dual-Phase is a 300-ton active volume LAr TPC, a prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), a dual-site experiment for long-baseline neutrino oscillation studies, neutrino astrophysics and nucleon …
The MicroBooNE experiment at Fermilab uses liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) technology to study neutrino interactions in argon. A fundamental requirement for LArTPCs is to achieve and maintain a low level of electronegative contaminants in the liquid to minimize the capture of drifting ionization electrons. The attenuation time for the drifting electrons should be long compared to the maximum drift time, so that the signals from particle tracks that generate ionization electrons with long drift paths can be detected efficiently. In this talk we present MicroBooNE measurement of el…
DarkSide-20k (DS-20k) will exploit the physical and chemical properties of liquid argon housed within a large dual-phase time project chamber (TPC) in its direct search for dark matter. The TPC will utilize a compact, integrated design with many novel features to enable the \SI{20}{t} fiducial volume of underground argon. Underground Argon (UAr) is sourced from underground CO$_2$ wells and depleted in the radioactive isotope $^{39}$Ar, greatly enhancing the experimental sensitivity to dark matter interactions. Sourcing and transporting the $\mathcal{O}$(\SI{100}{t}) of UAr for DS-20k is costly…
We present a model for the Global Quantum Efficiency (GQE) of the MicroBooNE optical units. An optical unit consists of a flat, circular acrylic plate, coated with tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB), positioned near the photocathode of a 20.2-cm diameter photomultiplier tube. The plate converts the ultra-violet scintillation photons from liquid argon into visible-spectrum photons to which the cryogenic phototubes are sensitive. The GQE is the convolution of the efficiency of the plates that convert the 128 nm scintillation light from liquid argon to visible light, the efficiency of the shifted light …
ARGONTUBE is a liquid argon time projection chamber (LAr TPC) with a drift field generated in-situ by a Greinacher voltage multiplier circuit. We present results on the measurement of the drift-field distribution inside ARGONTUBE using straight ionization tracks generated by an intense UV laser beam. Our analysis is based on a simplified model of the charging of a multi-stage Greinacher circuit to describe the voltages on the field cage rings.
MicroBooNE is a liquid-argon-based neutrino experiment, which began collecting data in Fermilab's Booster neutrino beam in October 2015. Physics goals of the experiment include probing the source of the anomalous excess of electron-like events in MiniBooNE. In addition to this, MicroBooNE is carrying out an extensive cross section physics program that will help to probe current theories on neutrino-nucleon interactions and nuclear effects. These proceedings summarise the status of MicroBooNE's neutrino cross section analyses.
The MicroBooNE detector has recently completed its first year of neutrino beam data-taking in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab, having collected approximately half of its intended data ($3.4\times10^{20}$ of $6.6\times10^{20}$ protons on target). We present kinematic distributions of neutrino interactions observed from a small subset of this data (equivalent to $5\times10^{19}$ protons on target), both as a first step towards a charged-current muon neutrino cross-section on argon, and as an exploration of the capabilities and operational challenges of large liquid argon time projection ch…
Neutrinos are particles that interact rarely, so identifying them requires large detectors which produce lots of data. Processing this data with the computing power available is becoming more difficult as the detectors increase in size to reach their physics goals. In liquid argon time projection chambers (TPCs) the charged particles from neutrino interactions produce ionization electrons which drift in an electric field towards a series of collection wires, and the signal on the wires is used to reconstruct the interaction. The MicroBooNE detector currently collecting data at Fermilab has 800…
The low-noise operation of readout electronics in a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) is critical to properly extract the distribution of ionization charge deposited on the wire planes of the TPC, especially for the induction planes. This paper describes the characteristics and mitigation of the observed noise in the MicroBooNE detector. The MicroBooNE's single-phase LArTPC comprises two induction planes and one collection sense wire plane with a total of 8256 wires. Current induced on each TPC wire is amplified and shaped by custom low-power, low-noise ASICs immersed in the liquid…
ProtoDUNE-DP is a 6x6x6 m3 liquid argon time-projection-chamber (LArTPC) operated at the Neutrino Platform at CERN in 2019-2020 as a prototype of the DUNE Far Detector. DUNE is a dual-site experiment for long-baseline neutrino oscillation studies, neutrino astrophysics and nucleon decay searches. The light signal in these detectors is crucial to provide precise timing capabilities. In ProtoDUNE-DP, scintillation light produced by cosmic muons inthe LArTPC is collected by the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) placed up to 7 m away from the point of interaction. The scintillation light production and…
We describe a novel ionization signal capture and waveform digitization scheme for kiloton-scale liquid argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC) detectors. The scheme is based on a pixel-scale self-triggering `charge integrate/reset' block, local clocks running at unconstrained frequencies and dynamically established data networks. The scheme facilitates detailed capture of waveforms of arbitrary complexity from a sequence of varying time intervals, each of which corresponds to a fixed charge integral. An absolute charge auto-calibration process based on intrinsic $^{39}$Ar decay current is a major…
This paper describes new techniques for producing lightguides for detection of scintillation light in liquid argon time projection chambers. These can be used in future neutrino experiments such as SBND and DUNE. These new results build on a dipped-coating technique that was previously reported and is reviewed here. The improvements to the approach indicate a factor of four improvement in attenuation length of the lightguides compared to past studies. The measured attenuation lengths, which are >2 m, are consistent with the bulk attenuation length of the material. Schematics for a mechanical d…
This paper will discuss a new method of signal read-out from photon detectors in ultra-large, underground liquid argon time projection chambers. In this design, the signal from the light collection system is coupled via capacitive plates to the TPC wire-planes. This signal is then read out using the same cabling and electronics as the charge information. This greatly benefits light collection: it eliminates the need for an independent readout, substantially reducing cost; It reduces the number of cables in the vapor region of the TPC that can produce impurities; And it cuts down on the number …
DUNE is a new international experiment for neutrino physics and nucleon decay searches. It will consist of two detectors, about 1300 km apart, exposed to a multi-megawatt neutrino beam that will be built at Fermilab. One of the two detectors will be installed several hundred meters downstream of the neutrino production point with the primary role of characterising the energy spectrum and composition of the beam as well as performing precision measurements of neutrino cross sections. For the design of this so-called near detector, the DUNE Collaboration is considering, among other technologies,…
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a leading-edge experiment for long-baseline neutrino oscillation studies, neutrino astrophysics and nucleon decay searches. ProtoDUNE-Dual Phase (DP) is a 6x6x6 m$^3$ liquid argon time-projection-chamber (LArTPC) operated at the CERN Neutrino Platform in 2019-2020 as a prototype of the DUNE Far Detector. In ProtoDUNE-DP, the scintillation and electroluminescence light produced by cosmic muons in the LArTPC is collected by photomultiplier tubes placed up to 7 m away from the ionizing track. In this paper, we present the performance of the Proto…
Large liquid argon TPC detector programs such as LBNE and LAGUNA-LBNO will be able to make measurements of the proton lifetime which will outperform Cherenkov detectors in the proton decay channel $p \rightarrow K^{+}ν$. At the large depths which are proposed for such experiments, a non-negligible source of isolated charged kaons may be produced in the showers of cosmogenic muons. We present an estimate of the cosmogenic muon background to proton decay in the $p \rightarrow K^{+}ν$ channel. The simulation of muon transport to a depth of 4 km w.e, is performed in the MUSIC framework and the pro…
The Fermilab Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program aims to observe and reconstruct thousands of neutrino-argon interactions with its three detectors (SBND, MicroBooNE and ICARUS-T600), using their hundred of tonnes Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers to perform a rich physics analysis program, in particular focused in the search for sterile neutrinos. Given the relatively shallow depth of the detectors, the continuos flux of cosmic ray particles which crossing their volumes introduces a constant background which can be falsely identified as part of the event of interest. Here we present the …
The MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) maintains a high level of liquid argon purity through the use of a filtration system that removes electronegative contaminants in continuously-circulated liquid, recondensed boil off, and externally supplied argon gas. We use the MicroBooNE LArTPC to reconstruct MeV-scale radiological decays. Using this technique we measure the liquid argon filtration system's efficacy at removing radon. This is studied by placing a 500 kBq $^{222}$Rn source upstream of the filters and searching for a time-dependent increase in the number of radiolog…
Scintillation light produced in liquid argon (LAr) must be shifted from 128 nm to visible wavelengths in light detection systems used for liquid argon time-projection chambers (LArTPCs). To date, LArTPC light collection systems have employed tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB) coatings on photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) or plates placed in front of the PMTs. Recently, a new approach using TPB-coated light guides was proposed. In this paper, we report on light guides with improved attenuation lengths above 100 cm when measured in air. This is an important step in the development of meter-scale light guide…
The T2K near-detector, ND280, employs three large argon gas TPCs (Time Projection Chambers) for particle tracking and identification. The gas inside the TPCs can be used as an active target to study the neutrino interactions in great detail. The low density of the gas leads to very low track energy thresholds, allowing the reconstruction of very low momentum tracks, e.g. protons with kinetic energies down to $\mathcal{O}$(1 MeV). Since different nuclear interaction models vary considerably in their predictions of those low momentum track multiplicities, this makes neutrino interactions on gase…
The ICARUS T600 liquid argon (LAr) time projection chamber (TPC) underwent a major overhaul at CERN in 2016-2017 to prepare for the operation at FNAL in the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program. This included a major upgrade of the photo-multiplier system and of the TPC wire read-out electronics. The full TPC wire read-out electronics together with the new wire biasing and interconnection scheme are described. The design of a new signal feed-through flange is also a fundamental piece of this overhaul whose major feature is the integration of all electronics components onto the signal flange. …
We report on the design and construction of a LED-based fiber calibration system for large liquid argon time projection detectors. This system was developed to calibrate the optical systems of the MicroBooNE experiment. As well as detailing the materials and installation procedure, we provide technical drawings and specifications so that the system may be easily replicated in future LArTPC detectors.
A number of liquid argon time projection chambers (LAr TPC's) are being build or are proposed for neutrino experiments on long- and short baseline beams. For these detectors a distortion in the drift field due to geometrical or physics reasons can affect the reconstruction of the events. Depending on the TPC geometry and electric drift field intensity this distortion could be of the same magnitude as the drift field itself. Recently, we presented a method to calibrate the drift field and correct for these possible distortions. While straight cosmic ray muon tracks could be used for calibration…
This document describes the early stage of the reconstruction chain that was developed for the ArgoNeuT and MicroBooNE experiments at Fermilab. These experiments study accelerator neutrino interactions that occur in a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber. Reconstructing the properties of particles produced in these interactions requires knowledge of the micro-physics processes that affect the creation and transport of ionization electrons to the readout system. A wire signal deconvolution technique was developed to convert wire signals to a standard form for hit reconstruction, to remove artif…
DarkSide (DS) at Gran Sasso underground laboratory is a direct dark matter search program based on TPCs with liquid argon from underground sources. The DS-50 TPC, with 50 kg of liquid argon is installed inside active neutron and muon detectors. DS-50 has been taking data since Nov 2013, collecting more than 10^7 events with atmospheric argon. This data represents an exposure to the largest background, beta decays of 39Ar, comparable to the full 3 y run of DS-50 with underground argon. When analysed with a threshold that would give a sensitivity in the full run of about 10^-45 cm2 at a WIMP mas…
The Short Baseline Near Detector (SBND) is a 112 ton active mass liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) that will begin operations in the Booster Neutrino Beamline at Fermilab in 2020. Its main physics goals include high-statistics measurements of neutrino-argon interaction cross-sections and searches for sterile neutrino oscillations as part of three LArTPCs that make up the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program at Fermilab. In addition, SBND serves as an R\&D platform for future LArTPC detectors such as those employed by the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). One of the tech…
The DUNE Near Detector design consists of multiple components, each designed to produce complementary constraints on flux and neutrino interaction systematic uncertainties for the oscillation analyses. One of these subdetectors is a magnetized high-pressure gaseous-argon TPC (HPgTPC), which will provide fine-grained tracking in a low-density detector, using the same target nucleus as the DUNE far detector. With its low momentum threshold for particle detection, the HPgTPC will be able to constrain one of the most crucial - and least-well understood - uncertainties for the oscillation analysis:…
We present a new technology for the shaping of the electric field in Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) using a carbon-loaded polyimide foil. This technology allows for the minimisation of passive material near the active volume of the TPC and thus is capable to reduce background events originating from radioactive decays or scattering on the material itself. Furthermore, the high and continuous electric resistivity of the foil limits the power dissipation per unit area and minimizes the risks of damages in the case of an electric field breakdown. Replacing the conventional field cage with a resi…
We report the results of the analyses of the cosmic ray data collected with a 4 tonne (3$\times$1$\times$1~m$^3$) active mass (volume) Liquid Argon Time-Projection Chamber (TPC) operated in a dual-phase mode. We present a detailed study of the TPC's response, its main detector parameters and performance. The results are important for the understanding and further developments of the dual-phase technology, thanks to the verification of key aspects, such as the extraction of electrons from liquid to gas and their amplification through the entire one square metre readout plain, gain stability, pu…
