Searching for Low Energy Neutrinos and Beam Exotics with Scintillation
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
Liquid argon Time Projection Chambers(LArTPC) are becoming widely used as
neutrino detectors thanks to their excellent position and energy resolution.
The UK has major involvement in the next generation DUNE LArTPC, which will
be built in the next decade as well as the Short Baseline Near Detector, which
is set to take data in 2020. LArTPCs use mostly ionization charge to
reconstruct events, but argon is also a proficient scintillator. The Manchester
group is at the forefront of developing the methods of using scintillation light
to perform state-of-the art physics measurements, particularly those that
would be difficult to perform using only ionization charge i.e. requiring fast
timing or having low energy deposits.
A wide range of models has been recently proposed that predict heavy exotic
particles produced in neutrino beams that could be viable candidates for dark
matter particles and SBND is in a unique position, given its near position to the
neutrino target to search for them. The student will work on developing the
scintillation light reconstruction methods in SBND (and DUNE) and use them to
search for such particles in SBND. If time allows, he will also use the developed
methods to develop a search for supernova neutrinos in DUNE.
neutrino detectors thanks to their excellent position and energy resolution.
The UK has major involvement in the next generation DUNE LArTPC, which will
be built in the next decade as well as the Short Baseline Near Detector, which
is set to take data in 2020. LArTPCs use mostly ionization charge to
reconstruct events, but argon is also a proficient scintillator. The Manchester
group is at the forefront of developing the methods of using scintillation light
to perform state-of-the art physics measurements, particularly those that
would be difficult to perform using only ionization charge i.e. requiring fast
timing or having low energy deposits.
A wide range of models has been recently proposed that predict heavy exotic
particles produced in neutrino beams that could be viable candidates for dark
matter particles and SBND is in a unique position, given its near position to the
neutrino target to search for them. The student will work on developing the
scintillation light reconstruction methods in SBND (and DUNE) and use them to
search for such particles in SBND. If time allows, he will also use the developed
methods to develop a search for supernova neutrinos in DUNE.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Andrzej Szelc (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Patrick Green (Student) |
Publications
Green P
(2020)
Quantized Vortex Rings and Loop Solitons
in Journal of Low Temperature Physics
Garcia-Gamez D
(2021)
Predicting transport effects of scintillation light signals in large-scale liquid argon detectors
in The European Physical Journal C
Adams C
(2020)
Reconstruction and measurement of (100) MeV energy electromagnetic activity from p 0 arrow ?? decays in the MicroBooNE LArTPC
in Journal of Instrumentation
Adams C
(2020)
A method to determine the electric field of liquid argon time projection chambers using a UV laser system and its application in MicroBooNE
in Journal of Instrumentation
Adams C
(2020)
Calibration of the charge and energy loss per unit length of the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber using muons and protons
in Journal of Instrumentation
Acciarri R
(2021)
New Constraints on Tau-Coupled Heavy Neutral Leptons with Masses m_{N}=280-970 MeV.
in Physical review letters
Acciarri R
(2021)
Cosmic Ray Background Removal With Deep Neural Networks in SBND.
in Frontiers in artificial intelligence
Acciarri R
(2020)
Construction of precision wire readout planes for the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND)
in Journal of Instrumentation
Acciarri R
(2020)
First measurement of electron neutrino scattering cross section on argon
in Physical Review D
Abratenko P
(2021)
The continuous readout stream of the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber for detection of supernova burst neutrinos
in Journal of Instrumentation
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ST/S505572/1 | 01/10/2018 | 30/09/2022 | |||
| 2192017 | Studentship | ST/S505572/1 | 01/10/2018 | 30/09/2022 | Patrick Green |
| ST/T506291/1 | 01/10/2019 | 30/09/2023 | |||
| 2192017 | Studentship | ST/T506291/1 | 01/10/2018 | 30/09/2022 | Patrick Green |
| Description | Performed first search for Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs) decaying to a di-muon signature in a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector with the ArgoNeuT experiment, setting a leading exclusion limit on this model. As part of this analysis, a novel technique to select highly boosted muon pairs was developed that could be used in future searches in other detectors such as the DUNE near detector. Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 121801 (2021) Developed model to simulate propagation of scintillation light in large-scale liquid argon/xenon detectors. This model resolves the problems faced by the previous methods as LArTPC detectors increase in scale, enabling simulation of the scintillation light in the DUNE far detector. Eur. Phys. J. C 81, 349 (2021) Development approach to run LArTPC simulation and reconstruction on high performance computers with high job efficiency. Demonstrated running LArTPC simulation utilising the full scale of the Theta supercomputer at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility. |
| Exploitation Route | The methods and tools developed as a result of this award are in use by multiple LArTPC collaborations including DUNE and SBND. |
| Sectors | Other |