We have constructed a GEANT4-based detailed software model of photon transport in plastic scintillator blocks and have used it to study the NEMO-3 and SuperNEMO calorimeters employed in experiments designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay. We compare our simulations to measurements using conversion electrons from a calibration source of $rm ^{207}Bi$ and show that the agreement is improved if wavelength-dependent properties of the calorimeter are taken into account. In this article, we briefly describe our modeling approach and results of our studies.
The NEMO experiment is investigating the neutrinoless double beta decay. The NEMO-3 detector is taking data in the Frejus Underground Laboratory. The goal of the SuperNEMO detector is to reach a sensitivity on the order of 10^26 year on the half-life of the bb0nu process. The chosen isotopes for the future detector are 82Se and 150Nd, because of the reduced background. The collaboration has started a 3-year R&D development on all components : tracking detector, calorimeter, source enrichment and purification, radiopurity measurements.
It is challenging to achieve high precision energy resolution for large liquid scintillator detectors. Energy non-uniformity is one of the main obstacles. To surmount it, a calibration-data driven method was developed previously to reconstruct event energy in the JUNO experiment. In this paper, we investigated the choice of calibration sources thoroughly, optimized the calibration positions and corrected the residual detector azimuthal asymmetry. All these efforts lead to a reduction of the energy non-uniformity near the detector boundary, from about 0.64% to 0.38%. And within the fiducial volume of the detector it is improved from 0.3% to 0.17%. As a result the energy resolution could be further improved.
This paper presents studies of the performance of water-based liquid scintillator in both 1-kt and 50-kt detectors. Performance is evaluated in comparison to both pure water Cherenkov detectors and a nominal model for pure scintillator detectors. Performance metrics include energy, vertex, and angular resolution, along with a metric for ability to separate the Cherenkov from the scintillation signal, as being representative of various particle identification capabilities that depend on the Cherenkov / scintillation ratio. We also modify the time profile of scintillation light to study the same performance metrics as a function of rise and decay time. We go on to interpret these results in terms of their impact on certain physics goals, such as solar neutrinos and the search for Majorana neutrinos. This work supports and validates previous results, and the assumptions made therein, by using a more complete detector model and full reconstruction. We confirm that a high-coverage, 50-kt detector would be capable of better than 10 (1)% precision on the CNO neutrino flux with a WbLS (pure LS) target in 5 years of data taking. A 1-kt LS detector, with a conservative 50% fiducial volume of 500~t, can achieve a better than 5% detection. Using the liquid scintillator model, we find a sensitivity into the normal hierarchy region for Majorana neutrinos, with half life sensitivity of $T^{0 ubetabeta}_{1/2} > 1.4 times 10^{28}$ years at 90% CL for 10 years of data taking with a Te-loaded target.
Liquid scintillators are commonly used to detect low energy neutrinos from the reactors, sun, and earth. It is a challenge to reconstruct deposited energies for a large liquid scintillator detector. For detectors with multiple optical mediums such as JUNO and SNO+, the prediction of the propagation of detected photons is extremely difficult due to mixed optical processes such as Rayleigh scattering, refraction and total reflection at their boundaries. Calibration based reconstruction methods consume impractical time since a large number of calibration points are required in a giant detector. In this paper, we propose a new model-independent method to reconstruct deposited energies with minimum requirements on the calibration system. This method is validated with JUNOs offline software. Monte Carlo studies show that the energy non-uniformity can be controlled below 1%, which is crucial for JUNO to achieve 3% energy resolution.
The double-beta decay of 82Se to the 0+1 excited state of 82Kr has been studied with the NEMO-3 detector using 0.93 kg of enriched 82Se measured for 4.75 y, corresponding to an exposure of 4.42 kg y. A dedicated analysis to reconstruct the gamma-rays has been performed to search for events in the 2e2g channel. No evidence of a 2nbb decay to the 0+1 state has been observed and a limit of T2n 1/2(82Se; 0+gs -> 0+1) > 1.3 1021 y at 90% CL has been set. Concerning the 0nbb decay to the 0+1 state, a limit for this decay has been obtained with T0n 1/2(82Se; 0+g s -> 0+1) > 2.3 1022 y at 90% CL, independently from the 2nbb decay process. These results are obtained for the first time with a tracko-calo detector, reconstructing every particle in the final state.