No Arabic abstract
The NEXT-White (NEW) detector is currently the largest radio-pure high-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber with electroluminescent readout in the world. NEXT-White has been operating at Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (LSC) since October 2016. This paper describes the calibrations performed with $^{83m}mathrm{Kr}$ decays during a long run taken from March to November 2017 (Run II). Krypton calibrations are used to correct for the finite drift-electron lifetime as well as for the dependence of the measured energy on the event position which is mainly caused by variations in solid angle coverage. After producing calibration maps to correct for both effects we measure an excellent energy resolution for 41.5 keV point-like deposits of (4.553 $pm$ 0.010 (stat.) $pm$ 0.324 (sys.)) % FWHM in the full chamber and (3.804 $pm$ 0.013 (stat.) $pm$ 0.112 (sys.)) % FWHM in a restricted fiducial volume. Using naive 1/$sqrt{E}$ scaling, these values translate into resolutions of (0.516 $pm$ 0.0014 (stat.) $pm$ 0.0421 (sys.)) % FWHM and (0.4943 $pm$ 0.0017 (stat.) $pm$ 0.0146 (sys.)) % FWHM at the $Q_{betabeta}$ energy of xenon double beta decay (2458 keV), well within range of our target value of 1%.
We report the preparation of a Kr-83m source and its subsequent use in calibrating a liquid xenon detector. Kr-83m atoms were produced through the decay of Rb-83 atoms trapped in zeolite molecular sieve and were then introduced into liquid xenon. Decaying Kr-83m nuclei were detected through liquid xenon scintillation. Conversion electrons with energies of 9.4 keV and 32.1 keV from the decay of Kr-83m were both observed. This calibration source will allow the characterization of the scintillation and ionization response of noble liquid detectors at low energies, highly valuable for the search for WIMP dark matter. Kr-83m may also be useful for measuring fluid flow dynamics, both to understand purification in noble liquid-based particle detectors, as well as for studies of classical and quantum turbulence in superfluid helium.
In this work, we present the first spectroscopic measurements of conversion electrons originating from the decay of metastable gaseous $^mathrm{83m}$Kr with the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment. The results obtained in this calibration measurement represent a major commissioning milestone for the upcoming direct neutrino mass measurement with KATRIN. The successful campaign demonstrates the functionalities of the full KATRIN beamline. The KATRIN main spectrometers excellent energy resolution of ~ 1 eV made it possible to determine the narrow K-32 and L$_3$-32 conversion electron line widths with an unprecedented precision of ~ 1 %.
Prompt scintillation signals from $^{83m}$Kr calibration sources are a useful metric to calibrate the spatial variation of light collection efficiency and electric field magnitude of a two phase liquid-gas xenon time projection chamber. Because $^{83m}$Kr decays in two steps, there are two prompt scintillation pulses for each calibration event, denoted S1a and S1b. We study the ratio of S1b to S1a signal sizes in the Particle Identification in Xenon at Yale (PIXeY) experiment and its dependence on the time separation between the two signals ($Delta t$), notably its increase at low $Delta t$. In PIXeY data, the $Delta t$ dependence of S1b/S1a is observed to exhibit two exponential components: one with a time constant of $0.05 pm 0.02mu s$, which can be attributed to processing effects and pulse overlap and one with a time constant of $10.2 pm 2.2mu s$ that increases in amplitude with electric drift field, the origin of which is not yet understood.
In experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay, the possibility of identifying the two emitted electrons is a powerful tool in rejecting background events and therefore improving the overall sensitivity of the experiment. In this paper we present the first measurement of the efficiency of a cut based on the different event signatures of double and single electron tracks, using the data of the NEXT-White detector, the first detector of the NEXT experiment operating underground. Using a TO calibration source to produce signal-like and background-like events with energies near 1.6 MeV, a signal efficiency of $71.6 pm 1.5_{textrm{ stat}} pm 0.3_{textrm{ sys}} %$ for a background acceptance of $20.6 pm 0.4_{textrm{ stat}} pm 0.3_{textrm{ sys}} %$ is found, in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations. An extrapolation to the energy region of the neutrinoless double beta decay by means of Monte Carlo simulations is also carried out, and the results obtained show an improvement in background rejection over those obtained at lower energies.
We report on the preparation of and calibration measurements with a $^{83mathrm{m}}$Kr source for the CENNS-10 liquid argon detector. $^{83mathrm{m}}$Kr atoms generated in the decay of a $^{83}$Rb source were introduced into the detector via injection into the Ar circulation loop. Scintillation light arising from the 9.4 keV and 32.1 keV conversion electrons in the decay of $^{83mathrm{m}}$Kr in the detector volume were then observed. This calibration source allows the characterization of the low-energy response of the CENNS-10 detector and is applicable to other low-energy-threshold detectors. The energy resolution of the detector was measured to be 9$%$ at the total $^{83mathrm{m}}$Kr decay energy of 41.5 keV. We performed an analysis to separately calibrate the detector using the two conversion electrons at 9.4 keV and 32.1 keV