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Jessica Eck

Publications and source records attributed to Jessica Eck.

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Final assessment of radioactive impurities in the JUNO detector

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) collaboration has completed the construction of the 20,000-ton liquid scintillator detector and the associated muon veto detector system. To meet the physics objectives, the materials used in the detector must exhibit low radioactive contamination. The single-event rate in the fiducial volume (R $<$ 17.2 m) of the scintillator is required to be approximately 7 Hz for energies above 0.7 MeV, resulting in an accidental coincidence background of about 1 event per day for reactor neutrino physics analyses. Since the beginning of the construction phase, we have screened the natural radioactivity content of thousands of materials, to select those that meet the design background budget. The radioactive impurity concentrations of the materials ultimately used in the JUNO detector are summarized in this paper. The construction of the entire detector and the subsequent filling of the liquid scintillator were completed in August 2025. From the initial data, the total count rate of natural radioactivity within the detector's fiducial volume has met the requirements and is sufficient to support the reactor antineutrino analysis.

physics.ins-det

A Low-energy Threshold and Multi-messenger Trigger System for the JUNO Experiment

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20-kiloton liquid scintillator neutrino detector, located 650 meters (1800 m.w.e.) underground in Jiangmen, Guangdong, China. JUNO is primarily designed for reactor neutrino measurements and has been taking data since 2025. With the largest mass of its kind and an excellent energy resolution, JUNO is a leading observatory for high-precision measurements of MeV neutrinos. The standard global trigger system serves as the primary trigger for JUNO. We present a newly developed multi-messenger trigger system that extends the capabilities of the global trigger by providing a lower energy threshold and an independent monitoring capability. During the 2025 operation, it achieved an effective energy threshold of approximately 110 +/- 10 keV, providing a lower threshold configuration suitable for low-energy event analysis. The system shows the potential to further reduce the threshold to well below 100 keV. Based on the multi-messenger trigger system, an astrophysical monitor has been developed to receive and process external alerts from other messengers, such as gravitational-wave observations. A Transient Neutrino Burst Monitor is integrated to detect short-time-scale neutrino burst events and enables real-time monitoring of transient astrophysical phenomena. The system is sensitive to neutrino bursts from core-collapse supernovae within a distance of about 250 kpc.

hep-ex

A novel method for measuring the attenuation length and the group velocity of transparent liquids in a variable length cavity

The transparency of liquid scintillators or water is an important parameter for many detectors in particle and astroparticle physics. In this work, the Cavity Enhanced Long Light Path Attenuation Length Screening (CELLPALS) method for the determination of the attenuation length is presented for the first time. The method is based on an experimental setup similar to a Fabry-P\'erot interferometer but adding up multiple-reflected intensities of a modulated light source. CELLPALS was developed to measure the attenuation length of highly transparent liquids (> 10 m) with significantly lower uncertainties than with UV-Vis spectroscopy, which is a standard method for determining the attenuation length. In addition to the attenuation length, the group velocity of light in the sample can also be derived from the free spectral range of the cavity, which is not provided by any conventional method for determining the attenuation length. In this work, the CELLPALS method, its achievable precision and an experimental setup to demonstrate its feasibility are discussed. The attenuation lengths and group velocities of several transparent liquids were measured at wavelengths between 420 nm and 435 nm. In addition, the attenuation length and group velocity of linear alkylbenzene (LAB) samples after different purification stages and a purified LAB-based liquid scintillator were measured at a wavelength of 425 nm. The results confirmed the potential of CELLPALS to determine the attenuation length with an uncertainty of ~ 2 %. The group velocity of light in the sample can be determined with an uncertainty of ~ 0.03 %.

physics.ins-det