High Pressure Gas TPC Development Studies for the DUNE Near Detector

Antimatter in the universe is so negligible that our world exists long enough for intelligent life to evolve. But our knowledge says otherwise: By the book, all matter should have obliterated together with antimatter in equal parts. The only key to unlocking this puzzle comes from the behavioural difference between neutrinos and anti(matter-)neutrinos, which can be studied by accelerator-based neutrino experiments. With more powerful accelerators and sophisticated detectors, we are on the way to examining neutrino interactions with unprecedented precision. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is the next-generation neutrino experiment in the US designed to look for the tiny asymmetry between neutrinos and antineutrinos and search for rare events that originate from physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. DUNE will do this by measuring neutrino oscillations, a phenomenon where neutrinos change type on their way from their production at Fermilab to their detection by the Far Detector (FD) 1200 km away. The near detector (ND) complex consists of a liquid argon TPC, a High-Pressure gas Time Projection Chamber (HPgTPC) enclosed by a solenoid and a calorimeter, and an on-axis beam monitor. This complex is being designed to precisely characterise the neutrino beams and to study neutrino-nucleus interactions with unprecedented details so that the respective systematic errors contributing to the oscillation measurements are much better understood.
The HPgTPC of the DUNE ND, currently being designed, will be the ultimate detector to study neutrino interactions due to its very low detection threshold, full angular acceptance, and very large high-pressure gas volume providing a large target mass. This research will focus on the gas studies and readout technology development and provide a technical solution to the HPgTPC gas quality control that is considered a high priority. Embedded in the Warwick TPC Platform, the project will provide strong local support for accelerator-neutrino gas TPC R&D in the UK. It would represent a very timely push for further R&D into the HPgTPC concept in the UK and would complement well efforts to extend UK contributions to the DUNE Near Detector project.