Soil moisture and matric potential-an open field comparison of sensor systems

Soil water content and matric potential are central hydrological state variables. A large variety of automated probes and sensor systems for state monitoring exist and are frequently applied. Most applications solely rely on the calibration by the manufacturers. Until now, there has been no commonly agreed-upon calibration procedure. Moreover, several opinions about the capabilities and reliabilities of specific sensing methods or sensor systems exist and compete. A consortium of several institutions conducted a comparison study of currently available sensor systems for soil water content and matric potential under field conditions. All probes were installed at 0.2mb.s. (metres below surface), following best-practice procedures. We present the set-up and the recorded data of 58 probes of 15 different systems measuring soil moisture and 50 further probes of 14 different systems for matric potential. We briefly discuss the limited coherence of the measurements in a cross-correlation analysis. The measuring campaign was conducted during the growing period of 2016. The monitoring data, results from pedophysical analyses of the soil and laboratory reference measurements for calibration are published in Jackisch et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.892319)

First Measurement of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering on Argon

We report the first measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (\cevns) on argon using a liquid argon detector at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source. Two independent analyses prefer \cevns over the background-only null hypothesis with greater than $3\sigma$ significance. The measured cross section, averaged over the incident neutrino flux, is (2.2 $\pm$ 0.7) $\times$10$^{-39}$ cm$^2$ -- consistent with the standard model prediction. The neutron-number dependence of this result, together with that from our previous measurement on CsI, confirms the existence of the \cevns process and provides improved constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures with 2 pages, 6 figures supplementary material V3: fixes to figs 3,4 V4: fix typo in table 1, V5: replaced missing appendix, V6: fix Eq 1, new fig 3, V7 final version, updated with final revision

Observation of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering

The coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off nuclei has eluded detection for four decades, even though its predicted cross-section is the largest by far of all low-energy neutrino couplings. This mode of interaction provides new opportunities to study neutrino properties, and leads to a miniaturization of detector size, with potential technological applications. We observe this process at a 6.7-sigma confidence level, using a low-background, 14.6-kg CsI[Na] scintillator exposed to the neutrino emissions from the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Characteristic signatures in energy and time, predicted by the Standard Model for this process, are observed in high signal-to-background conditions. Improved constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions with quarks are derived from this initial dataset

Identification of Radiopure Titanium for the LZ Dark Matter Experiment and Future Rare Event Searches

The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment will search for dark matter particle interactions with a detector containing a total of 10 tonnes of liquid xenon within a double-vessel cryostat. The large mass and proximity of the cryostat to the active detector volume demand the use of material with extremely low intrinsic radioactivity. We report on the radioassay campaign conducted to identify suitable metals, the determination of factors limiting radiopure production, and the selection of titanium for construction of the LZ cryostat and other detector components. This titanium has been measured with activities of $^{238}$U$_{e}$~$<$1.6~mBq/kg, $^{238}$U$_{l}$~$<$0.09~mBq/kg, $^{232}$Th$_{e}$~$=0.28\pm 0.03$~mBq/kg, $^{232}$Th$_{l}$~$=0.25\pm 0.02$~mBq/kg, $^{40}$K~$<$0.54~mBq/kg, and $^{60}$Co~$<$0.02~mBq/kg (68\% CL). Such low intrinsic activities, which are some of the lowest ever reported for titanium, enable its use for future dark matter and other rare event searches. Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to assess the expected background contribution from the LZ cryostat with this radioactivity. In 1,000 days of WIMP search exposure of a 5.6-tonne fiducial mass, the cryostat will contribute only a mean background of $0.160\pm0.001$(stat)$\pm0.030$(sys) counts.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic