DEAP-3600 is a single-phase liquid argon (LAr) direct-detection dark matter experiment, operating 2 km underground at SNOLAB (Sudbury, Canada). The detector consists of 3279 kg of LAr contained in a ...spherical acrylic vessel. This paper reports on the analysis of a 758 tonne·day exposure taken over a period of 231 live-days during the first year of operation. No candidate signal events are observed in the WIMP-search region of interest, which results in the leading limit on the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section on a LAr target of 3.9×10−45 cm2 (1.5×10−44 cm2) for a 100 GeV/c2 (1 TeV/c2) WIMP mass at 90% C.L. In addition to a detailed background model, this analysis demonstrates the best pulse-shape discrimination in LAr at threshold, employs a Bayesian photoelectron-counting technique to improve the energy resolution and discrimination efficiency, and utilizes two position reconstruction algorithms based on the charge and photon detection time distributions observed in each photomultiplier tube.
The Dark matter Experiment using Argon Pulse-shape discrimination (DEAP) has been designed for a direct detection search for particle dark matter using a single-phase liquid argon target. The ...projected cross section sensitivity for DEAP-3600 to the spin-independent scattering of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) on nucleons is 10−46cm2 for a 100 GeV/c2 WIMP mass with a fiducial exposure of 3 tonne-years. This paper describes the physical properties and construction of the DEAP-3600 detector.
The DEAP-1 low-background liquid argon detector was used to measure scintillation pulse shapes of electron and nuclear recoil events and to demonstrate the feasibility of pulse-shape discrimination ...down to an electron-equivalent energy of 20 keVee.
In the surface dataset using a triple-coincidence tag we found the fraction of β events that are misidentified as nuclear recoils to be <1.4×10−7 (90% C.L.) for energies between 43–86 keVee and for a nuclear recoil acceptance of at least 90%, with 4% systematic uncertainty on the absolute energy scale. The discrimination measurement on surface was limited by nuclear recoils induced by cosmic-ray generated neutrons. This was improved by moving the detector to the SNOLAB underground laboratory, where the reduced background rate allowed the same measurement to be done with only a double-coincidence tag.
The combined data set contains 1.23 × 108 events. One of those, in the underground data set, is in the nuclear-recoil region of interest. Taking into account the expected background of 0.48 events coming from random pileup, the resulting upper limit on the level of electronic recoil contamination is <2.7×10−8 (90% C.L.) between 44–89 keVee and for a nuclear recoil acceptance of at least 90%, with 6% systematic uncertainty on the absolute energy scale.
We developed a general mathematical framework to describe pulse-shape-discrimination parameter distributions and used it to build an analytical model of the distributions observed in DEAP-1. Using this model, we project a misidentification fraction of approximately 10−10 for an electron-equivalent energy threshold of 15 keVee for a detector with 8 PE/keVee light yield. This reduction enables a search for spin-independent scattering of WIMPs from 1000 kg of liquid argon with a WIMP-nucleon cross-section sensitivity of 10−46 cm2, assuming negligible contribution from nuclear recoil backgrounds.
The T2K fine-grained detectors Amaudruz, P.-A.; Barbi, M.; Bishop, D. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
12/2012, Letnik:
696
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
T2K is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment searching for νe appearance in a νμ beam. The beam is produced at the J-PARC accelerator complex in Tokai, Japan, and the neutrinos are detected ...by the Super-Kamiokande detector located 295km away in Kamioka. A suite of near detectors (ND280) located 280 m downstream of the production target is used to characterize the components of the beam before they have had a chance to oscillate and to better understand various neutrino interactions on several nuclei. This paper describes the design and construction of two massive fine-grained detectors (FGDs) that serve as active targets in the ND280 tracker. One FGD is composed solely of scintillator bars while the other is partly scintillator and partly water. Each element of the FGDs is described, including the wavelength shifting fiber and Multi-Pixel Photon Counter used to collect the light signals, the readout electronics, and the calibration system. Initial tests and in situ results of the FGDs' performance are also presented.
DEAP-3600 Dark Matter Search Kuźniak, M.; Amaudruz, P.-A.; Batygov, M. ...
Nuclear and particle physics proceedings,
April-June 2016, 2016-04-00, Letnik:
273-275
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The DEAP-3600 experiment is located 2 km underground at SNOLAB, in Sudbury, Ontario. It is a single-phase detector that searches for dark matter particle interactions within a 1000-kg fiducial mass ...target of liquid argon. A first generation prototype detector (DEAP-1) with a 7-kg liquid argon target mass demonstrated a high level of pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) for reducing β/γ backgrounds and helped to develop low radioactivity techniques to mitigate surface-related α backgrounds. Construction of the DEAP-3600 detector is nearly complete and commissioning is starting in 2014. The target sensitivity to spin-independent scattering of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) on nucleons of 10−46cm2 will allow one order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity over current searches at 100 GeV WIMP mass. This paper presents an overview and status of the DEAP-3600 project and discusses plans for a future multi-tonne experiment, DEAP-50T.
The Hamamatsu R5912-HQE photomultiplier-tube (PMT) is a novel high-quantum efficiency PMT. It is currently used in the DEAP-3600 dark matter detector and is of significant interest for future dark ...matter and neutrino experiments where high signal yields are needed.
We report on the methods developed for in-situ characterization and monitoring of DEAP’s 255 R5912-HQE PMTs. This includes a detailed discussion of typical measured single-photoelectron charge distributions, correlated noise (afterpulsing), dark noise, double, and late pulsing characteristics. The characterization is performed during the detector commissioning phase using laser light injected through a light diffusing sphere and during normal detector operation using LED light injected through optical fibres.
The TIGRESS DAQ/Trigger System Martin, J.-P.; Mercier, C.; Starinski, N. ...
IEEE transactions on nuclear science,
02/2008, Letnik:
55, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The TIGRESS spectrometer is an array of escape suppressed, highly segmented, HPGe clover detectors, consisting of 896 channels, with around 1000 auxiliary detector channels available. The acquisition ...system is all digital, each detector signal is digitized and any filtering and subsequent processing is performed digitally. The system has been designed to integrate data flow, clock distribution, trigger, and acquisition control through the same serial links. A hierarchical trigger system is implemented, allowing various combinations of incoming trigger requests to be decided locally, or passed to any of the higher levels for final decision.
An in-depth characterization of the TACTIC detector was performed using data from a 148Gd alpha source and some test runs with a stable ion beam. The detector is an active target time-projection ...chamber with a blind central region for maximizing beam tolerance and GEM-based electron amplification, equipped with a modern digitizing data acquisition system allowing the recording of full signals. The system was developed to study the reaction 8Li(α,n)11B, which is important for bridging the mass 8 gap in scenarios of low 4He density like Inhomogeneous Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the production of r-process seeds in supernovae. Both energy resolution and tracking accuracy were found to agree with theoretical predictions and Geant4 simulations. The 8Li beam rate capability of the system is predicted to be of the order of 105s−1, several orders of magnitude higher than most previous measurements of the same reaction, while still maintaining a high detection efficiency of 70% to 80 %.
New technologies, especially photo-sensors, are enabling detectors for positron emission tomography to operate in large magnetic field, to be compact and to achieve excellent timing, energy and ...position resolutions including depth of interaction. However, the complexity and cost of such detectors are constantly increasing. Using wavelength shifting bars in a planar geometry promises to provide excellent three-dimensional position resolution with good energy and timing resolutions at a small fraction of the cost of comparable detector. Two detector configurations are being investigated using 3×3mm2 wavelength shifting bars to collect the light from either monolithic or pixelated LYSO crystals. Promising performances have been achieved.
Laser spectroscopy experiments at radioactive ion beam facilities around the world investigate properties of exotic nuclei for scientific endeavours such as, but not limited to, the investigation of ...nuclear structure. Advancements in experimental sensitivity and performance are continuously needed in order to extend the reach of nuclei that can be measured. The collinear fast beam laser spectroscopy (Cfbs) setup at Triumf, coupled to an out-of-plane radio-frequency quadrupole Paul trap, enables measurements of some of the most fundamental nuclear properties for long-lived ground and isomeric states. The first comprehensive overview of the Cfbs experiment is provided along with descriptions of key developments that extend the reach of laser spectroscopy experiments. A novel data acquisition technique structured around three-dimensional spectra is presented, where the integration of a custom multi-channel-scalar provides photon counts correlated with arrival time and acceleration voltage for post-experiment analysis. In addition, new rapid light manipulation techniques are discussed that suppress undesirable hyperfine pumping effects and regain losses in experimental efficiency.