arXiv subjects

Elena Aprile

Publications and source records attributed to Elena Aprile.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The Darkside-20k Data Acquisition System

DarkSide-20k is a WIMP search experiment using liquid argon as a target, designed to perform a background-free search for dark matter with unprecedented sensitivity, and is currently under construction at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. The detector comprises a dual-phase Time Projection Chamber complemented with external veto systems and is equipped with a total of 2720 SiPM-based readout channels. This work presents the DAQ system designed for DarkSide-20k. The system is capable of continuous, triggerless digitisation of the waveforms with high single-photoelectron detection efficiency and online processing, ensuring data reduction for long-term storage. The DarkSide-20k DAQ system employs commercial CAEN VX2745 digitisers with custom FPGA firmware implementation. Timing and synchronisation across all 48 digitisers are provided by custom Global and Crate Data Manager boards distributing a phase-aligned clock derived from a disciplined rubidium standard. Waveform segments are processed in real time by Front End Processor machines. Data are organised into collections containing whole detector information and distributed across a farm of Time Slice Processors for event reconstruction, classification, and further reduction before storage and offline analysis. A full "Quadrant" of the system, corresponding to one quarter of the final DAQ, has been assembled and validated at TRIUMF laboratory in Canada. The Quadrant has been stress-tested with simultaneous pulses and demonstrated sustained digitizer readout exceeding expected physics rates and stable long-term performance.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Simultaneous measurement of the light and charge response of liquid xenon to low-energy nuclear recoils at multiple electric fields

Dual-phase liquid xenon (LXe) detectors lead the direct search for particle dark matter. Understanding the signal production process of nuclear recoils in LXe is essential for the interpretation of LXe based dark matter searches. Up to now, only two experiments have simultaneously measured both the light and charge yield at different electric fields, neither of which attempted to evaluate the processes leading to light and charge production. In this letter, results from a neutron calibration of liquid xenon with simultaneous light and charge detection are presented for energies from 3-74 keV, at electric fields of 0.19, 0.49, and 1.02 kV/cm. No significant field dependence of the yields is observed.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2013

An atom trap trace analysis system for measuring krypton contamination in xenon dark matter detectors

We have developed an atom trap trace analysis (ATTA) system to measure Kr in Xe at the part per trillion (ppt) level, a prerequisite for the sensitivity achievable with liquid xenon dark matter detectors beyond the current generation. Since Ar and Kr have similar laser cooling wavelengths, the apparatus has been tested with Ar to avoid contamination prior to measuring Xe samples. A radio-frequency (RF) plasma discharge generates a beam of metastable atoms which is optically collimated, slowed, and trapped using standard magneto-optical techniques. Based on the measured overall system efficiency of $1.2 \times 10^{-8}$ (detection mode) we expect the ATTA system to reach the design goal sensitivity to ppt concentrations of Kr in Xe in $<2$ hours.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

Performance of a cryogenic system prototype for the XENON1T Detector

We have developed an efficient cryogenic system with heat exchange and associated gas purification system, as a prototype for the XENON1T experiment. The XENON1T detector will use about 3 ton of liquid xenon (LXe) at a temperature of 175K as target and detection medium for a dark matter search. In this paper we report results on the cryogenic system performance focusing on the dynamics of the gas circulation-purification through a heated getter, at flow rates above 50 Standard Liter per Minute (SLPM). A maximum flow of 114 SLPM has been achieved, and using two heat exchangers in parallel, a heat exchange efficiency better than 96% has been measured.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2012

The XENON1T Dark Matter Search Experiment

The worldwide race towards direct dark matter detection in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) has been dramatically accelerated by the remarkable progress and evolution of liquid xenon time projection chambers (LXeTPCs). With a realistic discovery potential, XENON100 has already reached a sensitivity of $7\times10^{-45}\,\n{cm}^2$, and continues to accrue data at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy towards its ultimate sensitivity reach at the $σ_{\n{SI}}\sim 2\times10^{-45}\,\n{cm}^2$ level for the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-section. To fully explore the favoured parameter space for WIMP dark matter in search of a first robust and statistically significant discovery, or to confirm any hint of a signal from \Xehund, the next phase of the XENON program will be a detector at the ton scale - XENON1T. The XENON1T detector, based on 2.2 ton of LXe viewed by low radioactivity photomultiplier tubes and housed in a water Cherenkov muon veto at LNGS, is presented. With an experimental aim of probing WIMP interaction cross-sections above of order $σ_{\n{SI}}\sim 2\times10^{-47}\,\n{cm}^2$ within 2 years of operation, XENON1T will provide the sensitivity to probe a particularly favourable region of electroweak physics on a timescale compatible with complementary ground and satellite based indirect searches and with accelerator dark matter searches at the LHC. Indeed, for a $σ_{\n{SI}} \sim 10^{-45}\,\n{cm}^2$ and $100 \,\n{GeV/c^2}$ WIMP mass, XENON1T could detect of order 100 events in this exposure, providing statistics for placing significant constraints on the WIMP mass.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2009

Status and Sensitivity Projections for the XENON100 Dark Matter Experiment

The XENON experimental program aims to detect cold dark matter particles via their elastic collisions with xenon nuclei in two-phase time projection chambers (TPCs). We are currently testing a new TPC at the 100 kg scale, XENON100. This new, ultra-low background detector, has a total of 170 kg of xenon (65 kg in the target region and 105 kg in the active shield). It has been installed at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory and is currently in commissioning phase. We review the design and performance of the detector and its associated systems, present status, preliminary calibration results, background prediction and projected sensitivity. With a 6000 kg-day background-free exposure, XENON100 will reach a sensitivity to spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of 2e-45 cm2 by the end of 2009. We also discuss our plan to upgrade the XENON100 experiment to improve the sensitivity by another order of magnitude by 2012.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2006

The Advanced Compton Telescope Mission

The Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT), the next major step in gamma-ray astronomy, will probe the fires where chemical elements are formed by enabling high-resolution spectroscopy of nuclear emission from supernova explosions. During the past two years, our collaboration has been undertaking a NASA mission concept study for ACT. This study was designed to (1) transform the key scientific objectives into specific instrument requirements, (2) to identify the most promising technologies to meet those requirements, and (3) to design a viable mission concept for this instrument. We present the results of this study, including scientific goals and expected performance, mission design, and technology recommendations.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

The XENON Dark Matter Experiment

The XENON experiment aims at the direct detection of dark matter in the form of WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) via their elastic scattering off Xenon nuclei. With a fiducial mass of 1000 kg of liquid xenon, a sufficiently low threshold of ~16 keV recoil energy and an un-rejected background rate of 10 events per year, XENON would be sensitive to a WIMP-nucleon interaction cross section of 10^(-46) cm^2, for WIMPs with masses above 50 GeV. The 1 tonne scale experiment (XENON1T) will be realized with an array of ten identical 100 kg detector modules (XENON100). The detectors are time projection chambers operated in dual (liquid/gas) phase, to detect simultaneously the ionization, through secondary scintillation in the gas, and primary scintillation in the liquid produced by low energy recoils. The distinct ratio of primary to secondary scintillation for nuclear recoils from WIMPs (or neutrons), and for electron recoils from background, is key to the event-by-event discrimination capability of XENON. A 3kg dual phase detector with light readout provided by an array of 7 photomultipliers is currently being tested, along with other prototypes dedicated to various measurements relevant to the XENON program. We present some of the results obtained to-date and briefly discuss the next step in the phased approach to the XENON experiment, i.e. the development and underground deployment of a 10 kg detector (XENON10) within 2005.

astro-ph↗