arXiv subjects

R. Ford

Publications and source records attributed to R. Ford.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

$^{222}$Rn contamination mechanisms on acrylic surfaces

In this work, the $^{222}$Rn contamination mechanisms on acrylic surfaces have been investigated. $^{222}$Rn can represent a significant background source for low-background experiments, and acrylic is a suitable material for detector design thanks to its purity and transparency. Four acrylic samples have been exposed to a $^{222}$Rn rich environment for different time periods, being contaminated by $^{222}$Rn and its progenies. Subsequently, the time evolution of radiocontaminants activity on the samples has been evaluated with $α$ and $γ$ measurements, highlighting the role of different decay modes in the contamination process. A detailed analysis of the alpha spectra allowed to quantify the implantation depth of the contaminants. Moreover, a study of both $α$ and $γ$ measurements pointed out the $^{222}$Rn diffusion inside the samples.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Distillation and stripping pilot plants for the JUNO neutrino detector: design, operations and reliability

This paper describes the design, construction principles and operations of the distillation and stripping pilot plants tested at the Daya Bay Neutrino Laboratory, with the perspective to adapt this processes, system cleanliness and leak-tightness to the final full scale plants that will be used for the purification of the liquid scintillator used in the JUNO neutrino detector. The main goal of these plants is to remove radio impurities from the liquid scintillator while increasing its optical attenuation length. Purification of liquid scintillator will be performed with a system combining alumina oxide, distillation, water extraction and steam (or N2 gas) stripping. Such a combined system will aim at obtaining a total attenuation length greater than 20 m at 430 nm, and a bulk radiopurity for 238U and 232Th in the 10-15 to 10-17 g/g range. The pilot plants commissioning and operation have also provided valuable information on the degree of reliability of their main components, which will be particularly useful for the design of the final full scale purification equipment for the JUNO liquid scintillator. This paper describe two of the five pilot plants since the Alumina Column, Fluor mixing and the Water Extraction plants are in charge of the Chinese part of the collaboration.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Measurement of the $^8$B Solar Neutrino Flux in SNO+ with Very Low Backgrounds

A measurement of the $^8$B solar neutrino flux has been made using a 69.2 kt-day dataset acquired with the SNO+ detector during its water commissioning phase. At energies above 6 MeV the dataset is an extremely pure sample of solar neutrino elastic scattering events, owing primarily to the detector's deep location, allowing an accurate measurement with relatively little exposure. In that energy region the best fit background rate is $0.25^{+0.09}_{-0.07}$ events/kt-day, significantly lower than the measured solar neutrino event rate in that energy range, which is $1.03^{+0.13}_{-0.12}$ events/kt-day. Also using data below this threshold, down to 5 MeV, fits of the solar neutrino event direction yielded an observed flux of $2.53^{+0.31}_{-0.28}$(stat.)$^{+0.13}_{-0.10}$(syst.)$\times10^6$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$, assuming no neutrino oscillations. This rate is consistent with matter enhanced neutrino oscillations and measurements from other experiments.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2019

GIGJ: a crustal gravity model of the Guangdong Province for predicting the geoneutrino signal at the JUNO experiment

Gravimetric methods are expected to play a decisive role in geophysical modeling of the regional crustal structure applied to geoneutrino studies. GIGJ (GOCE Inversion for Geoneutrinos at JUNO) is a 3D numerical model constituted by ~46 x 10$^{3}$ voxels of 50 x 50 x 0.1 km, built by inverting gravimetric data over the 6° x 4° area centered at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) experiment, currently under construction in the Guangdong Province (China). The a-priori modeling is based on the adoption of deep seismic sounding profiles, receiver functions, teleseismic P-wave velocity models and Moho depth maps, according to their own accuracy and spatial resolution. The inversion method allowed for integrating GOCE data with the a-priori information and regularization conditions through a Bayesian approach and a stochastic optimization. GIGJ fits the homogeneously distributed GOCE gravity data, characterized by high accuracy, with a ~1 mGal standard deviation of the residuals, compatible with the observation accuracy. Conversely to existing global models, GIGJ provides a site-specific subdivision of the crustal layers masses which uncertainties include estimation errors, associated to the gravimetric solution, and systematic uncertainties, related to the adoption of a fixed sedimentary layer. A consequence of this local rearrangement of the crustal layer thicknesses is a ~21% reduction and a ~24% increase of the middle and lower crust expected geoneutrino signal, respectively. Finally, the geophysical uncertainties of geoneutrino signals at JUNO produced by unitary uranium and thorium abundances distributed in the upper, middle and lower crust are reduced by 77%, 55% and 78%, respectively. The numerical model is available at http://www.fe.infn.it/u/radioactivity/GIGJ

physics.geo-ph↗

arXiv2018

Search for pair and single production of vectorlike quarks in final states with at least one $Z$ boson decaying into a pair of electrons or muons in $pp$ collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV

A search for vectorlike quarks is presented, which targets their decay into a $Z$ boson and a third-generation Standard Model quark. In the case of a vectorlike quark $T$ ($B$) with charge $+2/3e$ ($-1/3e$), the decay searched for is $T \rightarrow Zt$ ($B \rightarrow Zb$). Data for this analysis were taken during 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. The final state used is characterized by the presence of $b$-tagged jets, as well as a $Z$ boson with high transverse momentum, which is reconstructed from a pair of opposite-sign same-flavor leptons. Pair and single production of vectorlike quarks are both taken into account and are each searched for using optimized dileptonic exclusive and trileptonic inclusive event selections. In these selections, the high scalar sum of jet transverse momenta, the presence of high-transverse-momentum large-radius jets, as well as - in the case of the single-production selections - the presence of forward jets are used. No significant excess over the background-only hypothesis is found and exclusion limits at 95% confidence level allow masses of vectorlike quarks of $m_T > 1030$ GeV ($m_T > 1210$ GeV) and $m_B > 1010$ GeV ($m_B > 1140$ GeV) in the singlet (doublet) model. In the case of 100% branching ratio for $T\rightarrow Zt$ ($B\rightarrow Zb$), the limits are $m_T > 1340$ GeV ($m_B > 1220$ GeV). Limits at 95% confidence level are also set on the coupling to Standard Model quarks for given vectorlike quark masses.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Search for invisible modes of nucleon decay in water with the SNO+ detector

This paper reports results from a search for nucleon decay through 'invisible' modes, where no visible energy is directly deposited during the decay itself, during the initial water phase of SNO+. However, such decays within the oxygen nucleus would produce an excited daughter that would subsequently de-excite, often emitting detectable gamma rays. A search for such gamma rays yields limits of $2.5 \times 10^{29}$ y at 90% Bayesian credibility level (with a prior uniform in rate) for the partial lifetime of the neutron, and $3.6 \times 10^{29}$ y for the partial lifetime of the proton, the latter a 70% improvement on the previous limit from SNO. We also present partial lifetime limits for invisible dinucleon modes of $1.3\times 10^{28}$ y for $nn$, $2.6\times 10^{28}$ y for $pn$ and $4.7\times 10^{28}$ y for $pp$, an improvement over existing limits by close to three orders of magnitude for the latter two.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Significant Excess of ElectronLike Events in the MiniBooNE Short-Baseline Neutrino Experiment

The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports results from an analysis of $ν_e$ appearance data from $12.84 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target in neutrino mode, an increase of approximately a factor of two over previously reported results. A $ν_e$ charged-current quasielastic event excess of $381.2 \pm 85.2$ events ($4.5 σ$) is observed in the energy range $200<E_ν^{QE}<1250$~MeV. Combining these data with the $\bar ν_e$ appearance data from $11.27 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target in antineutrino mode, a total $ν_e$ plus $\bar ν_e$ charged-current quasielastic event excess of $460.5 \pm 99.0$ events ($4.7 σ$) is observed. If interpreted in a two-neutrino oscillation model, $ν_μ \rightarrow ν_e$, the best oscillation fit to the excess has a probability of $21.1\%$, while the background-only fit has a $χ^2$ probability of $6 \times 10^{-7}$ relative to the best fit. The MiniBooNE data are consistent in energy and magnitude with the excess of events reported by the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND), and the significance of the combined LSND and MiniBooNE excesses is $6.0 σ$. A two-neutrino oscillation interpretation of the data would require at least four neutrino types and indicate physics beyond the three neutrino paradigm.Although the data are fit with a two-neutrino oscillation model, other models may provide better fits to the data.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Nanoseconds Timing System Based on IEEE 1588 FPGA Implementation

Clock synchronization procedures are mandatory in most physical experiments where event fragments are readout by spatially dislocated sensors and must be glued together to reconstruct key parameters (e.g. energy, interaction vertex etc.) of the process under investigation. These distributed data readout topologies rely on an accurate time information available at the frontend, where raw data are acquired and tagged with a precise timestamp prior to data buffering and central data collecting. This makes the network complexity and latency, between frontend and backend electronics, negligible within upper bounds imposed by the frontend data buffer capability. The proposed research work describes an FPGA implementation of IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) that exploits the CERN Timing, Trigger and Control (TTC) system as a multicast messaging physical and data link layer. The hardware implementation extends the clock synchronization to the nanoseconds range, overcoming the typical accuracy limitations inferred by computers Ethernet based Local Area Network (LAN). Establishing a reliable communication between master and timing receiver nodes is essential in a message-based synchronization system. In the backend electronics, the serial data streams synchronization with the global clock domain is guaranteed by an hardware-based finite state machine that scans the bit period using a variable delay chain and finds the optimal sampling point. The validity of the proposed timing system has been proved in point-to-point data links as well as in star topology configurations over standard CAT-5e cables. The results achieved together with weaknesses and possible improvements are hereby detailed.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2018

First Measurement of Monoenergetic Muon Neutrino Charged Current Interactions

We report the first measurement of monoenergetic muon neutrino charged current interactions. MiniBooNE has isolated 236 MeV muon neutrino events originating from charged kaon decay at rest ($K^+ \rightarrow μ^+ ν_μ$) at the NuMI beamline absorber. These signal $ν_μ$-carbon events are distinguished from primarily pion decay in flight $ν_μ$ and $\overlineν_μ$ backgrounds produced at the target station and decay pipe using their arrival time and reconstructed muon energy. The significance of the signal observation is at the 3.9$σ$ level. The muon kinetic energy, neutrino-nucleus energy transfer ($ω=E_ν-E_μ$), and total cross section for these events is extracted. This result is the first known-energy, weak-interaction-only probe of the nucleus to yield a measurement of $ω$ using neutrinos, a quantity thus far only accessible through electron scattering.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Charge reconstruction in large-area photomultipliers

Large-area PhotoMultiplier Tubes (PMT) allow to efficiently instrument Liquid Scintillator (LS) neutrino detectors, where large target masses are pivotal to compensate for neutrinos' extremely elusive nature. Depending on the detector light yield, several scintillation photons stemming from the same neutrino interaction are likely to hit a single PMT in a few tens/hundreds of nanoseconds, resulting in several photoelectrons (PEs) to pile-up at the PMT anode. In such scenario, the signal generated by each PE is entangled to the others, and an accurate PMT charge reconstruction becomes challenging. This manuscript describes an experimental method able to address the PMT charge reconstruction in the case of large PE pile-up, providing an unbiased charge estimator at the permille level up to 15 detected PEs. The method is based on a signal filtering technique (Wiener filter) which suppresses the noise due to both PMT and readout electronics, and on a Fourier-based deconvolution able to minimize the influence of signal distortions ---such as an overshoot. The analysis of simulated PMT waveforms shows that the slope of a linear regression modeling the relation between reconstructed and true charge values improves from $0.769 \pm 0.001$ (without deconvolution) to $0.989 \pm 0.001$ (with deconvolution), where unitary slope implies perfect reconstruction. A C++ implementation of the charge reconstruction algorithm is available online at http://www.fe.infn.it/CRA .

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Dark Matter Search in a Proton Beam Dump with MiniBooNE

The MiniBooNE-DM collaboration searched for vector-boson mediated production of dark matter using the Fermilab 8 GeV Booster proton beam in a dedicated run with $1.86 \times 10^{20}$ protons delivered to a steel beam dump. The MiniBooNE detector, 490~m downstream, is sensitive to dark matter via elastic scattering with nucleons in the detector mineral oil. Analysis methods developed for previous MiniBooNE scattering results were employed, and several constraining data sets were simultaneously analyzed to minimize systematic errors from neutrino flux and interaction rates. No excess of events over background was observed, leading to a 90\% confidence limit on the dark-matter cross section parameter, $Y=ε^2α_D(m_χ/m_V)^4 \lesssim10^{-8}$, for $α_D=0.5$ and for dark-matter masses of $0.01<m_χ<0.3~\mathrm{GeV}$ in a vector portal model of dark matter. This is the best limit from a dedicated proton beam dump search in this mass and coupling range and extends below the mass range of direct dark matter searches. These results demonstrate a novel and powerful approach to dark matter searches with beam dump experiments.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2016

The CONNIE experiment

The CONNIE experiment uses fully depleted, high resistivity CCDs as particle detectors in an attempt to measure for the first time the Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Elastic Scattering of antineutrinos from a nuclear reactor with silicon nuclei.This talk, given at the XV Mexican Workshop on Particles and Fields (MWPF), discussed the potential of CONNIE to perform this measurement, the installation progress at the Angra dos Reis nuclear power plant, as well as the plans for future upgrades.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Measurement of the scintillation time spectra and pulse-shape discrimination of low-energy beta and nuclear recoils in liquid argon with DEAP-1

The DEAP-1 low-background liquid argon detector was used to measure scintillation pulse shapes of electron and nuclear recoil events and to demonstrate the feasibility of pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) down to an electron-equivalent energy of 20 keV. In the surface dataset using a triple-coincidence tag we found the fraction of beta events that are misidentified as nuclear recoils to be $<1.4\times 10^{-7}$ (90% C.L.) for energies between 43-86 keVee and for a nuclear recoil acceptance of at least 90%, with 4% systematic uncertainty on the absolute energy scale. The discrimination measurement on surface was limited by nuclear recoils induced by cosmic-ray generated neutrons. This was improved by moving the detector to the SNOLAB underground laboratory, where the reduced background rate allowed the same measurement with only a double-coincidence tag. The combined data set contains $1.23\times10^8$ events. One of those, in the underground data set, is in the nuclear-recoil region of interest. Taking into account the expected background of 0.48 events coming from random pileup, the resulting upper limit on the electronic recoil contamination is $<2.7\times10^{-8}$ (90% C.L.) between 44-89 keVee and for a nuclear recoil acceptance of at least 90%, with 6% systematic uncertainty on the absolute energy scale. We developed a general mathematical framework to describe PSD parameter distributions and used it to build an analytical model of the distributions observed in DEAP-1. Using this model, we project a misidentification fraction of approx. $10^{-10}$ for an electron-equivalent energy threshold of 15 keV for a detector with 8 PE/keVee light yield. This reduction enables a search for spin-independent scattering of WIMPs from 1000 kg of liquid argon with a WIMP-nucleon cross-section sensitivity of $10^{-46}$ cm$^2$, assuming negligible contribution from nuclear recoil backgrounds.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2016

Results of the engineering run of the Coherent Neutrino Nucleus Interaction Experiment (CONNIE)

The CONNIE detector prototype is operating at a distance of 30 m from the core of a 3.8 GW$_{\rm th}$ nuclear reactor with the goal of establishing Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD) as a new technology for the detection of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. We report on the results of the engineering run with an active mass of 4 g of silicon. The CCD array is described, and the performance observed during the first year is discussed. A compact passive shield was deployed for the detector, producing an order of magnitude reduction in the background rate. The remaining background observed during the run was stable, and dominated by internal contamination in the detector packaging materials. The {\it in-situ} calibration of the detector using X-ray lines from fluorescence demonstrates good stability of the readout system. The event rates with the reactor on and off are compared, and no excess is observed coming from nuclear fission at the power plant. The upper limit for the neutrino event rate is set two orders of magnitude above the expectations for the standard model. The results demonstrate the cryogenic CCD-based detector can be remotely operated at the reactor site with stable noise below 2 e$^-$ RMS and stable background rates. The success of the engineering test provides a clear path for the upgraded 100 g detector to be deployed during 2016.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Current Status and Future Prospects of the SNO+ Experiment

SNO+ is a large liquid scintillator-based experiment located 2km underground at SNOLAB, Sudbury, Canada. It reuses the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory detector, consisting of a 12m diameter acrylic vessel which will be filled with about 780 tonnes of ultra-pure liquid scintillator. Designed as a multipurpose neutrino experiment, the primary goal of SNO+ is a search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay (0$νββ$) of 130Te. In Phase I, the detector will be loaded with 0.3% natural tellurium, corresponding to nearly 800 kg of 130Te, with an expected effective Majorana neutrino mass sensitivity in the region of 55-133 meV, just above the inverted mass hierarchy. Recently, the possibility of deploying up to ten times more natural tellurium has been investigated, which would enable SNO+ to achieve sensitivity deep into the parameter space for the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy in the future. Additionally, SNO+ aims to measure reactor antineutrino oscillations, low-energy solar neutrinos, and geoneutrinos, to be sensitive to supernova neutrinos, and to search for exotic physics. A first phase with the detector filled with water will begin soon, with the scintillator phase expected to start after a few months of water data taking. The 0$νββ$ Phase I is foreseen for 2017.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Calibration and GEANT4 Simulations of the Phase II Proton Compute Tomography (pCT) Range Stack Detector

Northern Illinois University in collaboration with Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) and Delhi University has been designing and building a proton CT scanner for applications in proton treatment planning. The Phase II proton CT scanner consists of eight planes of tracking detectors with two X and two Y coordinate measurements both before and after the patient. In addition, a range stack detector consisting of a stack of thin scintillator tiles, arranged in twelve eight-tile frames, is used to determine the water equivalent path length (WEPL) of each track through the patient. The X-Y coordinates and WEPL are required input for image reconstruction software to find the relative (proton) stopping powers (RSP) value of each voxel in the patient and generate a corresponding 3D image. In this Note we describe tests conducted in 2015 at the proton beam at the Central DuPage Hospital in Warrenville, IL, focusing on the range stack calibration procedure and comparisons with the GEANT~4 range stack simulation.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

A New Proton CT Scanner

The design, construction, and preliminary testing of a second generation proton CT scanner is presented. All current treatment planning systems at proton therapy centers use X-ray CT as the primary imaging modality for treatment planning to calculate doses to tumor and healthy tissues. One of the limitations of X-ray CT is in the conversion of X-ray attenuation coefficients to relative (proton) stopping powers, or RSP. This results in more proton range uncertainty, larger target volumes and therefore, more dose to healthy tissues. To help improve this, we present a novel scanner capable of high dose rates, up to 2~MHz, and large area coverage, 20~x~24~cm$^2$, for imaging an adult head phantom and reconstructing more accurate RSP values.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2015

JUNO Conceptual Design Report

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is proposed to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy using an underground liquid scintillator detector. It is located 53 km away from both Yangjiang and Taishan Nuclear Power Plants in Guangdong, China. The experimental hall, spanning more than 50 meters, is under a granite mountain of over 700 m overburden. Within six years of running, the detection of reactor antineutrinos can resolve the neutrino mass hierarchy at a confidence level of 3-4$σ$, and determine neutrino oscillation parameters $\sin^2θ_{12}$, $Δm^2_{21}$, and $|Δm^2_{ee}|$ to an accuracy of better than 1%. The JUNO detector can be also used to study terrestrial and extra-terrestrial neutrinos and new physics beyond the Standard Model. The central detector contains 20,000 tons liquid scintillator with an acrylic sphere of 35 m in diameter. $\sim$17,000 508-mm diameter PMTs with high quantum efficiency provide $\sim$75% optical coverage. The current choice of the liquid scintillator is: linear alkyl benzene (LAB) as the solvent, plus PPO as the scintillation fluor and a wavelength-shifter (Bis-MSB). The number of detected photoelectrons per MeV is larger than 1,100 and the energy resolution is expected to be 3% at 1 MeV. The calibration system is designed to deploy multiple sources to cover the entire energy range of reactor antineutrinos, and to achieve a full-volume position coverage inside the detector. The veto system is used for muon detection, muon induced background study and reduction. It consists of a Water Cherenkov detector and a Top Tracker system. The readout system, the detector control system and the offline system insure efficient and stable data acquisition and processing.

physics.ins-det↗