arXiv subjects

Stuart Mufson

Publications and source records attributed to Stuart Mufson.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

A measurement of absolute efficiency of the ARAPUCA photon detector in Liquid Argon

In the Fall of 2017, two photon detector designs for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Far Detector were installed and tested in the TallBo liquid argon (LAr) cryostat at the Proton Assembly (PAB) facility, Fermilab. The designs include two light bars developed at Indiana University and a photon detector based on the ARAPUCA light trap engineered by Colorado State University and Fermilab. The performance of these devices is determined by analyzing 8 weeks of cosmic ray data. The current paper focuses solely on the ARAPUCA device as the performance of the light bars will be reported separately. The paper briefly describes the ARAPUCA concept, the TallBo setup, and focuses on data analysis and results.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2014

Scintillation Light from Cosmic-Ray Muons in Liquid Argon

This paper reports the results of an experiment to directly measure the time-resolved scintillation signal from the passage of cosmic-ray muons through liquid argon. Scintillation light from these muons is of value to studies of weakly-interacting particles in neutrino experiments and dark matter searches. The experiment was carried out at the TallBo dewar facility at Fermilab using prototype light guide detectors and electronics developed for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. Two models are presented for the time structure of the scintillation light, a phenomenological model and a composite model. Both models find $\tau_{\text{T}} = 1.52$ $\mu$s for the decay time constant of the Ar$_2^*$ triplet state. These models also show that the identification of the "early" light fraction in the phenomenological model, $F_{\text{E}}\approx 25\%$ of the signal, with the total light from singlet decays is an underestimate. The total fraction of singlet light is $F_{\text{S}} \approx 36\%$, where the increase over $F_{\text{E}}$ is from singlet light emitted by the wavelength shifter through processes with long decay constants. The models were further used to compute the experimental particle identification parameter $F_{\text{prompt}}$, the fraction of light coming in a short time window after the trigger compared with the light in the total recorded waveform. The models reproduce quite well the typical experimental value $\sim0.3$ found by dark matter and double $\beta$-decay experiments, which suggests this parameter provides a robust metric for discriminating electrons and muons from more heavily ionizing particles.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2013

The Search for Neutrino-Antineutrino Mixing from Lorentz Invariance Violation using Neutrino Interactions in MINOS

We searched for a sidereal modulation in the rate of neutrinos observed by the MINOS far detector. The detection of these signals could be a signature of neutrino-antineutrino mixing due to Lorentz and CPT violation as described by the Standard-Model Extension framework. We found no evidence for these sidereal signals and we placed limits on the coefficients in this theory describing the effect.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2009

Photometric Calibrations for 21st Century Science

The answers to fundamental science questions in astrophysics, ranging from the history of the expansion of the universe to the sizes of nearby stars, hinge on our ability to make precise measurements of diverse astronomical objects. As our knowledge of the underlying physics of objects improves along with advances in detectors and instrumentation, the limits on our capability to extract science from measurements is set, not by our lack of understanding of the nature of these objects, but rather by the most mundane of all issues: the precision with which we can calibrate observations in physical units. We stress the need for a program to improve upon and expand the current networks of spectrophotometrically calibrated stars to provide precise calibration with an accuracy of equal to and better than 1% in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared portions of the spectrum, with excellent sky coverage and large dynamic range.

astro-ph.CO↗