Neutral-Current Neutral Pion Production Measurement in MicroBooNE Using WireCell

This dissertation presents the first-ever measurements of the inclusive flux-averaged differential cross sections for neutral-current neutral pion production in $\pi^0$ momentum and cos$\theta$ on argon, as well as exclusive cross section measurements based on proton multiplicity. The NC$\pi^0$ channel is a significant source of photon background in long-baseline neutrino oscillation appearance searches and in NC$\Delta$ single-gamma production rate in MicroBooNE. The lack of previous measurements in the sub-GeV to few GeV neutrino energy region, specifically on argon, makes this investigation a priority.The measurements were conducted using the MicroBooNE detector, which is a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber exposed to the Fermilab Booster Neutrino beam with mean energy below 1 GeV. Neutrino interactions in the detector were reconstructed using the Wire-Cell paradigm, which includes tools for noise filtering, signal processing, pattern recognition, energy reconstruction, and particle identification. A dedicated selection targeting NC$\pi^0$ interactions was applied, resulting in efficiency and purity of approximately 34.3\% and 47\%, respectively. The final cross section measurements were extracted using the Wiener-SVD unfolding method and compared with predictions from various models. This work provides crucial information for constraining photon backgrounds and improving neutrino oscillation appearance measurements, particularly for the upcoming DUNE experiment

First measurement of one pion production in charged current neutrino and antineutrino events on argon

This thesis presents a work done in the context of the Fermilab Neutrino Intensity Frontier. Total cross section and differential cross section measurements for one pion production in charged current (CC) neutrino and antineutrino on argon are presented. These measurements are performed using the Argon Neutrino Test (ArgoNeuT) detector exposed to the Fermilab Neutrino From The Main Injector (NuMI) beam operating in the low energy antineutrino mode. The results are reported in terms of outgoing muon angle and momentum, outgoing pion angle and angle between outgoing pion and muon at a mean neutrino energy of 9.6 GeV (neutrinos) and 3.6 GeV (antineutrinos), setting a reconstruction limit on the pion momentum of 100 MeV/c. The total cross sections, averaged over a flux, are found to be 8.31 +/- 0.91 (stat) +/- 1.03 (syst) x 10^{-38} cm^{2} per argon nuclei and 2.54 +/- 0.43 (stat) -0.45+0.50 (syst) x 10^{-37} cm^{2} per argon nuclei for antineutrino and neutrino respectively. This is the first time the CC one pion production cross section is measured on argon nuclei

SyncGenie: A programmable event synchronization device for neuroscience research

In neuroscience, accurately correlating brain activity with stimuli and other events requires precise synchronization between neural data and event timing. To achieve this, purpose-built synchronization devices are often used to detect events. This paper introduces SyncGenie, a programmable synchronization device designed for a range of uses in neuroscience research—primarily as a “trigger box” to align neurophysiological data with physical stimulus events, among other possibilities. It can support both hardware-triggered and software-triggered pulse synchronization and can even serve as a cost-effective digitizer for real-time analysis of analog signals. We provide the complete circuit-board designs, 3D models, and Arduino code necessary to build and use SyncGenie. The board is designed for easy manufacturing and assembly, with components that can be seamlessly soldered. It includes a range of connector types required for common applications, such as 3.5 mm TRS, D-sub25, BNC, and JST-XH. Additionally, SyncGenie features a user-friendly interface that allows for experiment-specific adjustments without requiring coding expertise. Its programmability, supported by our public-domain Arduino library, provides the flexibility to adapt SyncGenie to diverse experimental protocols. Overall, SyncGenie offers enhanced functionality at a lower cost relative to commercially available trigger boxes

DUNE Offline Computing Conceptual Design Report

This document describes Offline Software and Computing for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) experiment, in particular, the conceptual design of the offline computing needed to accomplish its physics goals. Our emphasis in this document is the development of the computing infrastructure needed to acquire, catalog, reconstruct, simulate and analyze the data from the DUNE experiment and its prototypes. In this effort, we concentrate on developing the tools and systems thatfacilitate the development and deployment of advanced algorithms. Rather than prescribing particular algorithms, our goal is to provide resources that are flexible and accessible enough to support creative software solutions as HEP computing evolves and to provide computing that achieves the physics goals of the DUNE experiment

DUNE Offline Computing Conceptual Design Report

This document describes Offline Software and Computing for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) experiment, in particular, the conceptual design of the offline computing needed to accomplish its physics goals. Our emphasis in this document is the development of the computing infrastructure needed to acquire, catalog, reconstruct, simulate and analyze the data from the DUNE experiment and its prototypes. In this effort, we concentrate on developing the tools and systems thatfacilitate the development and deployment of advanced algorithms. Rather than prescribing particular algorithms, our goal is to provide resources that are flexible and accessible enough to support creative software solutions as HEP computing evolves and to provide computing that achieves the physics goals of the DUNE experiment

DUNE Offline Computing Conceptual Design Report

International audienceThis document describes Offline Software and Computing for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) experiment, in particular, the conceptual design of the offline computing needed to accomplish its physics goals. Our emphasis in this document is the development of the computing infrastructure needed to acquire, catalog, reconstruct, simulate and analyze the data from the DUNE experiment and its prototypes. In this effort, we concentrate on developing the tools and systems thatfacilitate the development and deployment of advanced algorithms. Rather than prescribing particular algorithms, our goal is to provide resources that are flexible and accessible enough to support creative software solutions as HEP computing evolves and to provide computing that achieves the physics goals of the DUNE experiment

The DUNE Far Detector Vertical Drift Technology, Technical Design Report

International audienceDUNE is an international experiment dedicated to addressing some of the questions at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics, including the mystifying preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe. The dual-site experiment will employ an intense neutrino beam focused on a near and a far detector as it aims to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to make high-precision measurements of the PMNS matrix parameters, including the CP-violating phase. It will also stand ready to observe supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector implements liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) technology, and combines the many tens-of-kiloton fiducial mass necessary for rare event searches with the sub-centimeter spatial resolution required to image those events with high precision. The addition of a photon detection system enhances physics capabilities for all DUNE physics drivers and opens prospects for further physics explorations. Given its size, the far detector will be implemented as a set of modules, with LArTPC designs that differ from one another as newer technologies arise. In the vertical drift LArTPC design, a horizontal cathode bisects the detector, creating two stacked drift volumes in which ionization charges drift towards anodes at either the top or bottom. The anodes are composed of perforated PCB layers with conductive strips, enabling reconstruction in 3D. Light-trap-style photon detection modules are placed both on the cryostat's side walls and on the central cathode where they are optically powered. This Technical Design Report describes in detail the technical implementations of each subsystem of this LArTPC that, together with the other far detector modules and the near detector, will enable DUNE to achieve its physics goals

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on $10^3$ pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype

The DUNE Far Detector Vertical Drift Technology, Technical Design Report

International audienceDUNE is an international experiment dedicated to addressing some of the questions at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics, including the mystifying preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe. The dual-site experiment will employ an intense neutrino beam focused on a near and a far detector as it aims to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to make high-precision measurements of the PMNS matrix parameters, including the CP-violating phase. It will also stand ready to observe supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector implements liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) technology, and combines the many tens-of-kiloton fiducial mass necessary for rare event searches with the sub-centimeter spatial resolution required to image those events with high precision. The addition of a photon detection system enhances physics capabilities for all DUNE physics drivers and opens prospects for further physics explorations. Given its size, the far detector will be implemented as a set of modules, with LArTPC designs that differ from one another as newer technologies arise. In the vertical drift LArTPC design, a horizontal cathode bisects the detector, creating two stacked drift volumes in which ionization charges drift towards anodes at either the top or bottom. The anodes are composed of perforated PCB layers with conductive strips, enabling reconstruction in 3D. Light-trap-style photon detection modules are placed both on the cryostat's side walls and on the central cathode where they are optically powered. This Technical Design Report describes in detail the technical implementations of each subsystem of this LArTPC that, together with the other far detector modules and the near detector, will enable DUNE to achieve its physics goals

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on $10^3$ pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype