August 28, 2023 to September 1, 2023
University of Vienna
Europe/Vienna timezone

A measurement of the ambient radon rate and MeV-scale calorimetry in the MicroBooNE LArTPC

Aug 29, 2023, 5:30 PM
15m
Hörsaal 5 lecture hall (University of Vienna)

Hörsaal 5 lecture hall

University of Vienna

Universitätsring 1 A-1010 Vienna, Austria
Parallel talk Underground laboratories Underground laboratories

Speaker

Dr William Foreman (Illinois Institute of Technology)

Description

Many physics goals of future large LAr detectors like DUNE hinge on the achievement of high radiopurity to minimize backgrounds to low-energy signals like supernova and solar neutrinos. Radon in particular is a concerning source of backgrounds, as its progeny generate diffuse signals from betas, gammas, and neutrons at the MeV-scale. In this talk, we report a measured limit on the specific activity of Rn222 in the bulk LAr of the MicroBooNE neutrino detector at Fermilab during standard data-taking periods. This measurement, achieved with newly developed low-energy LArTPC reconstruction and analysis techniques, is the first of its kind for a noble element detector incorporating liquid-phase purification. We also demonstrate the calorimetric capabilities of single-phase LArTPC technology at the ~MeV and sub-MeV scale with reconstructed energy spectra of betas and alphas from tagged isotope decays.

Submitted on behalf of a Collaboration? Yes

Authors

Bryce Littlejohn (Illinois Institute of Technology) Dr William Foreman (Illinois Institute of Technology)

Presentation materials