No Arabic abstract
Precise characterization of detector time resolution is of crucial importance for next-generation cryogenic-bolometer experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay, such as CUPID, in order to reject background due to pile-up of two-neutrino double-beta decay events. In this paper, we describe a technique developed to study the pile-up rejection capability of cryogenic bolometers. Our approach, which consists of producing controlled pile-up events with a programmable waveform generator, has the benefit that we can reliably and reproducibly control the time separation and relative energy of the individual components of the generated pile-up events. The resulting data allow us to optimize and benchmark analysis strategies to discriminate between individual and pile-up pulses. We describe a test of this technique performed with a small array of detectors at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, in Italy; we obtain a 90% rejection efficiency against pulser-generated pile-up events with rise time of ~15ms down to time separation between the individual events of about 2ms.
With Skipper-CCD detectors it is possible to take multiple samples of the charge packet collected on each pixel. After averaging the samples, the noise can be extremely reduced allowing the exact counting of electrons per pixel. In this work we present an analog circuit that, with a minimum number of components, applies a double slope integration (DSI), and at the same time, it averages the multiple samples producing at its output the pixel value with sub-electron noise. For this prupose, we introduce the technique of using the DSI integrator capacitor to add the skipper samples. An experimental verification using discrete components is presented, together with an analysis of its noise sources and limitations. After averaging 400 samples it was possible reach a readout noise of 0.2,$e^-_{RMS}/pix$, comparable to other available readout systems. Due to its simplicity and significant reduction of the sampling requirements, this circuit technique is of particular interest in particle experiments and cameras with a high density of Skipper-CCDs.
Particle production from secondary proton-proton collisions, commonly referred to as pile-up, impair the sensitivity of both new physics searches and precision measurements at LHC experiments. We propose a novel algorithm, PUMA, for identifying pile-up objects with the help of deep neural networks based on sparse transformers. These attention mechanisms were developed for natural language processing but have become popular in other applications. In a realistic detector simulation, our method outperforms classical benchmark algorithms for pile-up mitigation in key observables. It provides a perspective for mitigating the effects of pile-up in the high luminosity era of the LHC, where up to 200 proton-proton collisions are expected to occur simultaneously.
The OLYMPUS experiment measured the cross-section ratio of positron-proton elastic scattering relative to electron-proton elastic scattering to look for evidence of hard two-photon exchange. To make this measurement, the experiment alternated between electron beam and positron beam running modes, with the relative integrated luminosities of the two running modes providing the crucial normalization. For this reason, OLYMPUS had several redundant luminosity monitoring systems, including a pair of electromagnetic calorimeters positioned downstream from the target to detect symmetric M{o} ller and Bhabha scattering from atomic electrons in the hydrogen gas target. Though this system was designed to monitor the rate of events with single M{o} ller/Bhabha interactions, we found that a more accurate determination of relative luminosity could be made by additionally considering the rate of events with both a M{o} ller/Bhabha interaction and a concurrent elastic $ep$ interaction. This method was improved by small corrections for the variance of the current within bunches in the storage ring and for the probability of three interactions occurring within a bunch. After accounting for systematic effects, we estimate that the method is accurate in determining the relative luminosity to within 0.36%. This precise technique can be employed in future electron-proton and positron-proton scattering experiments to monitor relative luminosity between different running modes.
We implemented a low noise current preamplifier for the readout of resistive bolometers. We tested the apparatus on thermometer resistances ranging from 10 Ohm to 500 Mohm. The use of current preamplifier overcomes constraints introduced by the readout time constant due to the thermometer resistance and the input capacitance. Using cold JFETs, this preamplifier board is shown to have very low noise: the Johnson noise of the source resistor (1 fA/Hz1/2) dominated in our noise measurements. We also implemented a lock-in chain using this preamplifier. Because of fast risetime, compensation of the phase shift may be unnecessary. If implemented, no tuning is necessary when the sensor impedance changes. Transients are very short, and thus low-passing or sampling of the signal is simplified. In case of spurious noise, the modulation frequency can be chosen in a much wider frequency range, without requiring a new calibration of the apparatus.
We have developed a novel technique for the measurement of the avalanche fluctuation of gaseous detectors using a UV laser. The technique is simple and requires a short data-taking time of about ten minutes. Furthermore, it is applicable for relatively low gas gains. Our experimental setup as well as the measurement principle, and the results obtained with a stack of Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) operated in several gas mixtures are presented.