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E. W. Hoppe

Publications and source records attributed to E. W. Hoppe.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

An integrated online radioassay data storage and analytics tool for nEXO

Large-scale low-background detectors are increasingly used in rare-event searches as experimental collaborations push for enhanced sensitivity. However, building such detectors, in practice, creates an abundance of radioassay data especially during the conceptual phase of an experiment when hundreds of materials are screened for radiopurity. A tool is needed to manage and make use of the radioassay screening data to quantitatively assess detector design options. We have developed a Materials Database Application for the nEXO experiment to serve this purpose. This paper describes this database, explains how it functions, and discusses how it streamlines the design of the experiment.

physics.ins-det↗

Search for Spontaneous Radiation from Wavefunction Collapse in the Majorana Demonstrator

The Majorana Demonstrator neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment comprises a 44 kg (30 kg enriched in $^{76}\mathrm{Ge}$) array of $p$-type, point-contact germanium detectors. With its unprecedented energy resolution and ultralow backgrounds, Majorana also searches for rare event signatures from beyond standard model physics in the low energy region below 100 keV. In this Letter, we test the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model, one of the mathematically well-motivated wave function collapse models aimed at solving the long-standing unresolved quantum mechanical measurement problem. While the CSL predicts the existence of a detectable radiation signature in the x-ray domain, we find no evidence of such radiation in the 19--100 keV range in a 37.5 kg-y enriched germanium exposure collected between December 31, 2015, and November 27, 2019, with the Demonstrator. We explored both the non-mass-proportional (n-m-p) and the mass-proportional (m-p) versions of the CSL with two different assumptions: that only the quasifree electrons can emit the x-ray radiation and that the nucleus can coherently emit an amplified radiation. In all cases, we set the most stringent upper limit to date for the white CSL model on the collapse rate, $λ$, providing a factor of 40--100 improvement in sensitivity over comparable searches. Our limit is the most stringent for large parts of the allowed parameter space. If the result is interpreted in terms of the Diòsi-Penrose gravitational wave function collapse model, the lower bound with a 95% confidence level is almost an order of magnitude improvement over the previous best limit.

nucl-ex↗

Constraints on the decay of $^{180m}$Ta

$^{180m}$Ta is a rare nuclear isomer whose decay has never been observed. Its remarkably long lifetime surpasses the half-lives of all other known $β$ and electron capture decays due to the large K-spin differences and small energy differences between the isomeric and lower energy states. Detecting its decay presents a significant experimental challenge but could shed light on neutrino-induced nucleosynthesis mechanisms, the nature of dark matter and K-spin violation. For this study, we repurposed the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, an experimental search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{76}$Ge using an array of high-purity germanium detectors, to search for the decay of $^{180m}$Ta. More than 17 kilograms, the largest amount of tantalum metal ever used for such a search was installed within the ultra-low background detector array. In this paper we present results from the first year of Ta data taking and provide an updated limit for the $^{180m}$Ta half-life on the different decay channels. With new limits up to 1.5 x $10^{19}$ years, we improved existing limits by one to two orders of magnitude. This result is the most sensitive search for a single $β$ and electron capture decay ever achieved.

nucl-ex↗

Charge Trapping and Energy Performance of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR

P-type point contact (PPC) high-purity germanium detectors are an important technology in astroparticle and nuclear physics due to their superb energy resolution, low noise, and pulse shape discrimination capabilities. Analysis of data from the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, a neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment deploying PPC detectors enriched in $^{76}$Ge, has led to several novel improvements in the analysis of PPC signals. In this work we discuss charge trapping in PPC detectors and its effect on energy resolution. Small dislocations or impurities in the crystal lattice result in trapping of charge carriers from an ionization event of interest, attenuating the signal and degrading the measured energy. We present a modified digital pole-zero correction to the signal energy estimation that counters the effects of charge trapping and improves the energy resolution of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR by approximately 30% to around 2.4 keV FWHM at 2039 keV, the $^{76}$Ge $Q$-value. An alternative approach achieving similar resolution enhancement is also presented.

physics.ins-det↗

Fundamental Symmetries, Neutrons, and Neutrinos (FSNN): Whitepaper for the 2023 NSAC Long Range Plan

This whitepaper presents the research priorities decided on by attendees of the 2022 Town Meeting for Fundamental Symmetries, Neutrons and Neutrinos, which took place December 13-15, 2022 in Chapel Hill, NC, as part of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) 2023 Long Range Planning process. A total of 275 scientists registered for the meeting. The whitepaper makes a number of explicit recommendations and justifies them in detail.

nucl-ex↗

A Strategy for Low-Mass Dark Matter Searches with Cryogenic Detectors in the SuperCDMS SNOLAB Facility

The SuperCDMS Collaboration is currently building SuperCDMS SNOLAB, a dark matter search focused on nucleon-coupled dark matter in the 1-5 GeV/c$^2$ mass range. Looking to the future, the Collaboration has developed a set of experience-based upgrade scenarios, as well as novel directions, to extend the search for dark matter using the SuperCDMS technology in the SNOLAB facility. The experienced-based scenarios are forecasted to probe many square decades of unexplored dark matter parameter space below 5 GeV/c$^2$, covering over 6 decades in mass: 1-100 eV/c$^2$ for dark photons and axion-like particles, 1-100 MeV/c$^2$ for dark-photon-coupled light dark matter, and 0.05-5 GeV/c$^2$ for nucleon-coupled dark matter. They will reach the neutrino fog in the 0.5-5 GeV/c$^2$ mass range and test a variety of benchmark models and sharp targets. The novel directions involve greater departures from current SuperCDMS technology but promise even greater reach in the long run, and their development must begin now for them to be available in a timely fashion. The experienced-based upgrade scenarios rely mainly on dramatic improvements in detector performance based on demonstrated scaling laws and reasonable extrapolations of current performance. Importantly, these improvements in detector performance obviate significant reductions in background levels beyond current expectations for the SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment. Given that the dominant limiting backgrounds for SuperCDMS SNOLAB are cosmogenically created radioisotopes in the detectors, likely amenable only to isotopic purification and an underground detector life-cycle from before crystal growth to detector testing, the potential cost and time savings are enormous and the necessary improvements much easier to prototype.

physics.ins-det↗

First measurement of the nuclear-recoil ionization yield in silicon at 100 eV

We measured the nuclear--recoil ionization yield in silicon with a cryogenic phonon-sensitive gram-scale detector. Neutrons from a mono-energetic beam scatter off of the silicon nuclei at angles corresponding to energy depositions from 4\,keV down to 100\,eV, the lowest energy probed so far. The results show no sign of an ionization production threshold above 100\,eV. These results call for further investigation of the ionization yield theory and a comprehensive determination of the detector response function at energies below the keV scale.

physics.ins-det↗

A Search for Low-mass Dark Matter via Bremsstrahlung Radiation and the Migdal Effect in SuperCDMS

We present a new analysis of previously published of SuperCDMS data using a profile likelihood framework to search for sub-GeV dark matter (DM) particles through two inelastic scattering channels: bremsstrahlung radiation and the Migdal effect. By considering these possible inelastic scattering channels, experimental sensitivity can be extended to DM masses that are undetectable through the DM-nucleon elastic scattering channel, given the energy threshold of current experiments. We exclude DM masses down to $220~\textrm{MeV}/c^2$ at $2.7 \times 10^{-30}~\textrm{cm}^2$ via the bremsstrahlung channel. The Migdal channel search provides overall considerably more stringent limits and excludes DM masses down to $30~\textrm{MeV}/c^2$ at $5.0 \times 10^{-30}~\textrm{cm}^2$.

hep-ex↗

Final Result of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR's Search for Neutrinoless Double-$β$ Decay in $^{76}$Ge

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR searched for neutrinoless double-$β$ decay ($0νββ$) of $^{76}$Ge using modular arrays of high-purity Ge detectors operated in vacuum cryostats in a low-background shield. The arrays operated with up to 40.4 kg of detectors (27.2 kg enriched to $\sim$88\% in $^{76}$Ge). From these measurements, the DEMONSTRATOR has accumulated 64.5 kg yr of enriched active exposure. With a world-leading energy resolution of 2.52 keV FWHM at the 2039 keV $Q_{ββ}$ (0.12\%), we set a half-life limit of $0νββ$ in $^{76}$Ge at $T_{1/2}>8.3\times10^{25}$ yr (90\% C.L.). This provides a range of upper limits on $m_{ββ}$ of $(113-269)$ meV (90\% C.L.), depending on the choice of nuclear matrix elements.

nucl-ex↗

Search for inelastic dark matter-nucleus scattering with the PICO-60 CF$_{3}$I and C$_{3}$F$_{8}$ bubble chambers

PICO bubble chambers have exceptional sensitivity to inelastic dark matter-nucleus interactions due to a combination of their extended nuclear recoil energy detection window from a few keV to $O$(100 keV) or more and the use of iodine as a heavy target. Inelastic dark matter-nucleus scattering is interesting for studying the properties of dark matter, where many theoretical scenarios have been developed. This study reports the results of a search for dark matter inelastic scattering with the PICO-60 bubble chambers. The analysis reported here comprises physics runs from PICO-60 bubble chambers using CF$_{3}$I and C$_{3}$F$_{8}$. The CF$_{3}$I run consisted of 36.8 kg of CF$_{3}$I reaching an exposure of 3415 kg-day operating at thermodynamic thresholds between 7 and 20 keV. The C$_{3}$F$_{8}$ runs consisted of 52 kg of C$_{3}$F$_{8}$ reaching exposures of 1404 kg-day and 1167 kg-day running at thermodynamic thresholds of 2.45 keV and 3.29 keV, respectively. The analysis disfavors various scenarios, in a wide region of parameter space, that provide a feasible explanation of the signal observed by DAMA, assuming an inelastic interaction, considering that the PICO CF$_{3}$I bubble chamber used iodine as the target material.

astro-ph.CO↗

Modeling Backgrounds for the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is a neutrinoless double-beta decay ($0νββ$) experiment containing $\sim$30 kg of p-type point contact germanium detectors enriched to 88% in 76Ge and $\sim$14 kg of natural germanium detectors. The detectors are housed in two electroformed copper cryostats and surrounded by a graded passive shield with active muon veto. An extensive radioassay campaign was performed prior to installation to insure the use of ultra-clean materials. The DEMONSTRATOR achieved one of the lowest background rates in the region of the $0νββ$ Q-value, 15.7 $\pm$ 1.4 cts/(FWHM t y) from the low-background configuration spanning most of the 64.5 kg-yr active exposure. Nevertheless this background rate is a factor of five higher than the projected background rate. This discrepancy arises from an excess of events from the 232Th decay chain. Background model fits aim to understand this deviation from assay-based projections, potentially determine the source(s) of observed backgrounds, and allow a precision measurement of the two-neutrino double-beta decay half-life. The fits agree with earlier simulation studies, which indicate the origin of the 232Th excess is not from a near-detector component and have informed design decisions for the next-generation LEGEND experiment. Recent findings have narrowed the suspected locations for the excess activity, motivating a final simulation and assay campaign to complete the background model.

nucl-ex↗

The NEWS-G detector at SNOLAB

The New Experiments With Spheres-Gas (NEWS-G) collaboration intends to achieve $\mathrm{sub-GeV/c^{2}}$ Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) detection using Spherical Proportional Counters (SPCs). SPCs are gaseous detectors relying on ionization with a single ionization electron energy threshold. The latest generation of SPC for direct dark matter searches has been installed at SNOLAB in Canada in 2021. This article details the different processes involved in the fabrication of the NEWS-G experiment. Also outlined in this paper are the mitigation strategies, measurements of radioactivity of the different components, and estimations of induced background event rates that were used to quantify and address detector backgrounds.

physics.ins-det↗

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

This White Paper, prepared for the Fundamental Symmetries, Neutrons, and Neutrinos Town Meeting related to the 2023 Nuclear Physics Long Range Plan, makes the case for double beta decay as a critical component of the future nuclear physics program. The major experimental collaborations and many theorists have endorsed this white paper.

nucl-ex↗

Performance of novel VUV-sensitive Silicon Photo-Multipliers for nEXO

Liquid xenon time projection chambers are promising detectors to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0$νββ$), due to their response uniformity, monolithic sensitive volume, scalability to large target masses, and suitability for extremely low background operations. The nEXO collaboration has designed a tonne-scale time projection chamber that aims to search for 0$νββ$ of \ce{^{136}Xe} with projected half-life sensitivity of $1.35\times 10^{28}$~yr. To reach this sensitivity, the design goal for nEXO is $\leq$1\% energy resolution at the decay $Q$-value ($2458.07\pm 0.31$~keV). Reaching this resolution requires the efficient collection of both the ionization and scintillation produced in the detector. The nEXO design employs Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) to detect the vacuum ultra-violet, 175 nm scintillation light of liquid xenon. This paper reports on the characterization of the newest vacuum ultra-violet sensitive Fondazione Bruno Kessler VUVHD3 SiPMs specifically designed for nEXO, as well as new measurements on new test samples of previously characterised Hamamatsu VUV4 Multi Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs). Various SiPM and MPPC parameters, such as dark noise, gain, direct crosstalk, correlated avalanches and photon detection efficiency were measured as a function of the applied over voltage and wavelength at liquid xenon temperature (163~K). The results from this study are used to provide updated estimates of the achievable energy resolution at the decay $Q$-value for the nEXO design.

physics.ins-det↗

Determining the bubble nucleation efficiency of low-energy nuclear recoils in superheated C$_3$F$_8$ dark matter detectors

The bubble nucleation efficiency of low-energy nuclear recoils in superheated liquids plays a crucial role in interpreting results from direct searches for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. The PICO Collaboration presents the results of the efficiencies for bubble nucleation from carbon and fluorine recoils in superheated C$_3$F$_8$ from calibration data taken with 5 distinct neutron spectra at various thermodynamic thresholds ranging from 2.1 keV to 3.9 keV. Instead of assuming any particular functional forms for the nuclear recoil efficiency, a generalized piecewise linear model is proposed with systematic errors included as nuisance parameters to minimize model-introduced uncertainties. A Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) routine is applied to sample the nuclear recoil efficiency for fluorine and carbon at 2.45 keV and 3.29 keV thermodynamic thresholds simultaneously. The nucleation efficiency for fluorine was found to be $\geq 50\, \%$ for nuclear recoils of 3.3 keV (3.7 keV) at a thermodynamic Seitz threshold of 2.45 keV (3.29 keV), and for carbon the efficiency was found to be $\geq 50\, \%$ for recoils of 10.6 keV (11.1 keV) at a threshold of 2.45 keV (3.29 keV). Simulated data sets are used to calculate a p-value for the fit, confirming that the model used is compatible with the data. The fit paradigm is also assessed for potential systematic biases, which although small, are corrected for. Additional steps are performed to calculate the expected interaction rates of WIMPs in the PICO-60 detector, a requirement for calculating WIMP exclusion limits.

physics.ins-det↗

Investigating the sources of low-energy events in a SuperCDMS-HVeV detector

Recent experiments searching for sub-GeV/$c^2$ dark matter have observed event excesses close to their respective energy thresholds. Although specific to the individual technologies, the measured excess event rates have been consistently reported at or below event energies of a few-hundred eV, or with charges of a few electron-hole pairs. In the present work, we operated a 1-gram silicon SuperCDMS-HVeV detector at three voltages across the crystal (0 V, 60 V and 100 V). The 0 V data show an excess of events in the tens of eV region. Despite this event excess, we demonstrate the ability to set a competitive exclusion limit on the spin-independent dark matter--nucleon elastic scattering cross section for dark matter masses of $\mathcal{O}(100)$ MeV/$c^2$, enabled by operation of the detector at 0 V potential and achievement of a very low $\mathcal{O}(10)$ eV threshold for nuclear recoils. Comparing the data acquired at 0 V, 60 V and 100 V potentials across the crystal, we investigated possible sources of the unexpected events observed at low energy. The data indicate that the dominant contribution to the excess is consistent with a hypothesized luminescence from the printed circuit boards used in the detector holder.

hep-ex↗

Search for solar axions via axion-photon coupling with the Majorana Demonstrator

Axions were originally proposed to explain the strong-CP problem in QCD. Through the axion-photon coupling, the Sun could be a major source of axions, which could be measured in solid state detection experiments with enhancements due to coherent Primakoff-Bragg scattering. The Majorana Demonstrator experiment has searched for solar axions with a set of $^{76}$Ge-enriched high purity germanium detectors using a 33 kg-yr exposure collected between Jan. 2017 and Nov. 2019. A temporal-energy analysis gives a new limit on the axion-photon coupling as $g_{aγ}<1.45\times 10^{-9}$ GeV$^{-1}$ (95% C.I.) for axions with mass up to 100 eV/$c^2$. This improves laboratory-based limits between about 1 eV/$c^2$ and 100 eV/$c^2$.

nucl-ex↗

Experimental study of 13C(α,n)16O reactions in the Majorana Demonstrator calibration data

Neutron captures and delayed decays of reaction products are common sources of backgrounds in ultra-rare event searches. In this work, we studied $^{13}$C($α,n)^{16}$O reactions induced by $α$-particles emitted within the calibration sources of the \textsc{Majorana Demonstrator}. These sources are thorium-based calibration standards enclosed in carbon-rich materials. The reaction rate was estimated by using the 6129-keV $γ$-rays emitted from the excited $^{16}$O states that are populated when the incoming $α$-particles exceed the reaction Q-value. Thanks to the excellent energy performance of the \textsc{Demonstrator}'s germanium detectors, these characteristic photons can be clearly observed in the calibration data. Facilitated by \textsc{Geant4} simulations, a comparison between the observed 6129-keV photon rates and predictions by a TALYS-based software was performed. The measurements and predictions were found to be consistent, albeit with large statistical uncertainties. This agreement provides support for background projections from ($α,n$)-reactions in future double-beta decay search efforts.

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