4 research outputs found
Measurement of the scintillation time spectra and pulse-shape discrimination of low-energy beta and nuclear recoils in liquid argon with DEAP-1
The DEAP-1 low-background liquid argon detector was used to measure
scintillation pulse shapes of electron and nuclear recoil events and to
demonstrate the feasibility of pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) down to an
electron-equivalent energy of 20 keV.
In the surface dataset using a triple-coincidence tag we found the fraction
of beta events that are misidentified as nuclear recoils to be (90% C.L.) for energies between 43-86 keVee and for a nuclear recoil
acceptance of at least 90%, with 4% systematic uncertainty on the absolute
energy scale. The discrimination measurement on surface was limited by nuclear
recoils induced by cosmic-ray generated neutrons. This was improved by moving
the detector to the SNOLAB underground laboratory, where the reduced background
rate allowed the same measurement with only a double-coincidence tag.
The combined data set contains events. One of those, in the
underground data set, is in the nuclear-recoil region of interest. Taking into
account the expected background of 0.48 events coming from random pileup, the
resulting upper limit on the electronic recoil contamination is
(90% C.L.) between 44-89 keVee and for a nuclear recoil
acceptance of at least 90%, with 6% systematic uncertainty on the absolute
energy scale.
We developed a general mathematical framework to describe PSD parameter
distributions and used it to build an analytical model of the distributions
observed in DEAP-1. Using this model, we project a misidentification fraction
of approx. for an electron-equivalent energy threshold of 15 keV for
a detector with 8 PE/keVee light yield. This reduction enables a search for
spin-independent scattering of WIMPs from 1000 kg of liquid argon with a
WIMP-nucleon cross-section sensitivity of cm, assuming
negligible contribution from nuclear recoil backgrounds.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic
Improving photoelectron counting and particle identification in scintillation detectors with Bayesian techniques
Many current and future dark matter and neutrino detectors are designed to measure scintillation light with a large array of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). The energy resolution and particle identification capabilit
In-situ characterization of the Hamamatsu R5912-HQE photomultiplier tubes used in the DEAP-3600 experiment
The Hamamatsu R5912-HQE photomultiplier-tube (PMT) is a novel high-quantum efficiency PMT. It is currently used in the DEAP-3600 dark matter detector and is of significant interest for future dark matter and neutrino experiments where high signal yields are needed. We report on the methods developed for in-situ characterization and monitoring of DEAP's 255 R5912-HQE PMTs. This includes a detailed discussion of typical measured single-photoelectron charge distributions, correlated noise (afterpulsing), dark noise, double, and late pulsing characteristics. The characterization is performed during the detector commissioning phase using laser light injected through a light diffusing sphere and during normal detector operation using LED light injected through optical fibres