The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a future gamma-ray observatory that is planned to significantly improve upon the sensitivity and precision of the current generation of Cherenkov telescopes. ...The observatory will consist of several dozens of telescopes with different sizes and equipped with different types of cameras. Of these, the FlashCam camera system is the first to implement a fully digital signal processing chain which allows for a traceable, configurable trigger scheme and flexible signal reconstruction. As of autumn 2016, a prototype FlashCam camera for the medium-sized telescopes of CTA nears completion. First results of the ongoing system tests demonstrate that the signal chain and the readout system surpass CTA requirements. The stability of the system is shown using long-term temperature cycling.
•A full-scale prototype of the FlashCam Cherenkov camera is in operation.•System level testing and characterisation in a dark room is ongoing.•The performances of the data acquisition and the signal chain have been verified.•The system is stable over long periods and robust against temperature variations.
This paper details the low temperature poly‐crystalline silicon oxide (LTPO) thin‐film transistor (TFT) technology development primarily focused on image sticking (IS) and recovery behaviors, the ...backplane process optimization, which is painstaking multi‐faceted approach from TFT to panel to circuit, in order to ensure display performance and reliability. Palpable understanding on light induced IS and recovery, the dependency of bias layout design and backplane process integration are crucial.
HEROICA (Hades Experimental Research Of Intrinsic Crystal Appliances) is an infrastructure to characterize germanium detectors and has been designed and constructed at the HADES Underground Research ...Laboratory, located in Mol (Belgium). Thanks to the 223 m overburden of clay and sand, the muon flux is lowered by four orders of magnitude. This natural shield minimizes the exposure of radio-pure germanium material to cosmic radiation resulting in a significant suppression of cosmogenic activation in the germanium detectors. The project has been strongly motivated by a special production of germanium detectors for the GERDA experiment. GERDA, currently collecting data at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of INFN, is searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay of super(76)Ge. In the near future, GERDA will increase its mass and sensitivity by adding new Broad Energy Germanium (BEGe) detectors. The production of the BEGe detectors is done at Canberra in Olen (Belgium), located about 30 km from the underground test site. Therefore, HADES is used both for storage of the crystals over night, during diode production, and for the characterization measurements. A full quality control chain has been setup and tested on the first seven prototype detectors delivered by the manufacturer at the beginning of 2012. The screening capabilities demonstrate that the installed setup fulfills a fast and complete set of measurements on the diodes and it can be seen as a general test facility for the fast screening of high purity germanium detectors. The results are of major importance for a future massive production and characterization chain of germanium diodes foreseen for a possible next generation 1-tonne double beta decay experiment with super(76)Ge.
The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment searched for the lepton-number-violating neutrinoless double-β (0νββ) decay of ^{76}Ge, whose discovery would have far-reaching implications in ...cosmology and particle physics. By operating bare germanium diodes, enriched in ^{76}Ge, in an active liquid argon shield, GERDA achieved an unprecedently low background index of 5.2×10^{-4} counts/(keV kg yr) in the signal region and met the design goal to collect an exposure of 100 kg yr in a background-free regime. When combined with the result of Phase I, no signal is observed after 127.2 kg yr of total exposure. A limit on the half-life of 0νββ decay in ^{76}Ge is set at T_{1/2}>1.8×10^{26} yr at 90% C.L., which coincides with the sensitivity assuming no signal.
Probing Majorana neutrinos with double-β decay Agostini, M; Bakalyarov, A M; Balata, M ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
09/2019, Letnik:
365, Številka:
6460
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A discovery that neutrinos are Majorana fermions would have profound implications for particle physics and cosmology. The Majorana character of neutrinos would make possible the neutrinoless double-β ...(0νββ) decay, a matter-creating process without the balancing emission of antimatter. The GERDA Collaboration searches for the 0νββ decay of
Ge by operating bare germanium detectors in an active liquid argon shield. With a total exposure of 82.4 kg⋅year, we observe no signal and derive a lower half-life limit of
> 0.9 × 10
years (90% C.L.). Our
sensitivity, assuming no signal, is 1.1 × 10
years. Combining the latter with those from other 0νββ decay searches yields a sensitivity to the effective Majorana neutrino mass of 0.07 to 0.16 electron volts.
Many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics explain the dominance of matter over antimatter in our Universe by neutrinos being their own antiparticles. This would imply the existence of ...neutrinoless double-β decay, which is an extremely rare lepton-number-violating radioactive decay process whose detection requires the utmost background suppression. Among the programmes that aim to detect this decay, the GERDA Collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double-β decay of
Ge by operating bare detectors, made of germanium with an enriched
Ge fraction, in liquid argon. After having completed Phase I of data taking, we have recently launched Phase II. Here we report that in GERDA Phase II we have achieved a background level of approximately 10
counts keV
kg
yr
. This implies that the experiment is background-free, even when increasing the exposure up to design level. This is achieved by use of an active veto system, superior germanium detector energy resolution and improved background recognition of our new detectors. No signal of neutrinoless double-β decay was found when Phase I and Phase II data were combined, and we deduce a lower-limit half-life of 5.3 × 10
years at the 90 per cent confidence level. Our half-life sensitivity of 4.0 × 10
years is competitive with the best experiments that use a substantially larger isotope mass. The potential of an essentially background-free search for neutrinoless double-β decay will facilitate a larger germanium experiment with sensitivity levels that will bring us closer to clarifying whether neutrinos are their own antiparticles.
► Extensive simulations for the design and optimization of CTA were carried out. ► Different sets of simulation tools were checked against each other. ► Large-scale simulations with 275 telescopes ...for later layout selection.► Different analysis methods were applied and compared. ► Resulting sensitivity predictions confirmed the goals of CTA.
The Cherenkov Telescopes Array (CTA) is planned as the future instrument for very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy with a wide energy range of four orders of magnitude and an improvement in sensitivity compared to current instruments of about an order of magnitude. Monte Carlo simulations are a crucial tool in the design of CTA. The ultimate goal of these simulations is to find the most cost-effective solution for given physics goals and thus sensitivity goals or to find, for a given cost, the solution best suited for different types of targets with CTA. Apart from uncertain component cost estimates, the main problem in this procedure is the dependence on a huge number of configuration parameters, both in specifications of individual telescope types and in the array layout. This is addressed by simulation of a huge array intended as a superset of many different realistic array layouts, and also by simulation of array subsets for different telescope parameters. Different analysis methods – in use with current installations and extended (or developed specifically) for CTA – are applied to the simulated data sets for deriving the expected sensitivity of CTA. In this paper we describe the current status of this iterative approach to optimize the CTA design and layout.
Abstract
The GERmanium Detector Array (
Gerda
) is a low background experiment located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy, which searches for neutrinoless double-beta decay of
...$$^{76}$$
76
Ge into
$$^{76}$$
76
Se+2e
$$^-$$
-
.
Gerda
has been conceived in two phases. Phase II, which started in December 2015, features several novelties including 30 new
76
Ge enriched detectors. These were manufactured according to the Broad Energy Germanium (BEGe) detector design that has a better background discrimination capability and energy resolution compared to formerly widely-used types. Prior to their installation, the new BEGe detectors were mounted in vacuum cryostats and characterized in detail in the
Hades
underground laboratory in Belgium. This paper describes the properties and the overall performance of these detectors during operation in vacuum. The characterization campaign provided not only direct input for
Gerda
Phase II data collection and analyses, but also allowed to study detector phenomena, detector correlations as well as to test the accuracy of pulse shape simulation codes.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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