Identification and reconstruction of low-energy electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector

Measurements of electrons from $\nu_e$ interactions are crucial for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) neutrino oscillation program, as well as searches for physics beyond the standard model, supernova neutrino detection, and solar neutrino measurements. This article describes the selection and reconstruction of low-energy (Michel) electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector. ProtoDUNE-SP is one of the prototypes for the DUNE far detector, built and operated at CERN as a charged particle test beam experiment. A sample of low-energy electrons produced by the decay of cosmic muons is selected with a purity of 95%. This sample is used to calibrate the low-energy electron energy scale with two techniques. An electron energy calibration based on a cosmic ray muon sample uses calibration constants derived from measured and simulated cosmic ray muon events. Another calibration technique makes use of the theoretically well-understood Michel electron energy spectrum to convert reconstructed charge to electron energy. In addition, the effects of detector response to low-energy electron energy scale and its resolution including readout electronics threshold effects are quantified. Finally, the relation between the theoretical and reconstructed low-energy electron energy spectrum is derived and the energy resolution is characterized. The low-energy electron selection presented here accounts for about 75% of the total electron deposited energy. After the addition of lost energy using a Monte Carlo simulation, the energy resolution improves from about 40% to 25% at 50~MeV. These results are used to validate the expected capabilities of the DUNE far detector to reconstruct low-energy electrons.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure

Impact of cross-section uncertainties on supernova neutrino spectral parameter fitting in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

A primary goal of the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is to measure the $\mathcal{O}(10)$ MeV neutrinos produced by a Galactic core-collapse supernova if one should occur during the lifetime of the experiment. The liquid-argon-based detectors planned for DUNE are expected to be uniquely sensitive to the $\nu_e$ component of the supernova flux, enabling a wide variety of physics and astrophysics measurements. A key requirement for a correct interpretation of these measurements is a good understanding of the energy-dependent total cross section $\sigma(E_\nu)$ for charged-current $\nu_e$ absorption on argon. In the context of a simulated extraction of supernova $\nu_e$ spectral parameters from a toy analysis, we investigate the impact of $\sigma(E_\nu)$ modeling uncertainties on DUNE's supernova neutrino physics sensitivity for the first time. We find that the currently large theoretical uncertainties on $\sigma(E_\nu)$ must be substantially reduced before the $\nu_e$ flux parameters can be extracted reliably: in the absence of external constraints, a measurement of the integrated neutrino luminosity with less than 10\% bias with DUNE requires $\sigma(E_\nu)$ to be known to about 5%. The neutrino spectral shape parameters can be known to better than 10% for a 20% uncertainty on the cross-section scale, although they will be sensitive to uncertainties on the shape of $\sigma(E_\nu)$. A direct measurement of low-energy $\nu_e$-argon scattering would be invaluable for improving the theoretical precision to the needed level.Comment: 25 pages, 21 figure

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

Development of label-free impedimetric platform based on new conductive polyaniline polymer and three-dimensional interdigitated electrode array for biosensor applications,

Novel label-free impedimetric platform based on a three-dimensional interdigitated electrode array (3D-IDEA) sensor and new conductive polymer as a transducer for oxidoreductases is introduced. This platform is cost-effective, simple to construct and miniaturize. Monomer of conductive polymer N-(N’,N’-diethyldithiocarbamoylethylamidoethyl) aniline (AnD) was deposited onto 3D-IDEA by chemical polymerisation. It was found that the polymer film resistance depends on the redox-potential of the solution. For the first time polyAnD was used as enzyme immobilisation matrix. Pyrroloquinolinequinone (PQQ) dependent alcohol and glucose dehydrogenases were immobilized on 3D-IDEA covered with polyAnD by two different methods. 3D-IDEA sensors with enzymes, which were immobilised by physisorption on polyAnD layer, showed specific response in the presence of 1 μM of the corresponding substrates. Obtained results revealed that PQQ dependent dehydrogenases can re-oxidize on polyAnD via direct electron transfer (DET) from enzyme active site to the polymer surface. This process can be monitored by methods of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and chronoamperometry. Presented study shows that EIS method gives a useful tool for research of re-oxidation process and interaction of electroactive enzymes with conducting materials giving information required to construct and develop analytical devices.N. Abramova and A. Bratov acknowledge financial support from Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (projects AGL2008-05578-C05-05/01; IPT-2011-1055-900000 and CTQ2011-29163-C03-02). E. Voitechovic would like to acknowledge the financial support from St. Petersburg State University PostDoc Grant #12.50.1191.2014 and PhD Student Research Traineeship from the Lithuanian Science Council.Peer reviewe

Chemical sensor array for multicomponent analysis of biological liquids

The development of new methods of on-line monitoring of biological liquids such as human blood, blood plasma or dialysis solutions for arti®cial kidney is still an urgent task. Ion-selective chemical sensors (ISEs) are convenient instruments for this purpose and are widely used in commercial blood analysers. However, they have signi®cant drawbacks. The promising way to overcome them is the use of array of sensors with cross-sensitivity together with pattern recognition methods. The present work has been concerned with the development of a multisensor system for simultaneous determination of Ca2 , Mg2 , Na , HCOÿ 3 , Cl ÿ , H and HPO2ÿ 4 ions in solution modelling human blood plasma. The sensor array included 30 sensors based on non-speci®c original PVC materials, both cation- and anion-sensitive. Sensing materials for the array were chosen on the basis of cross-sensitivity estimation results with the help of the method that we suggested earlier. Back-propagation arti®cial neural network was utilised for data processing. It was demonstrated that the sensor array approach allows to measure the content of all these species with an average precision of about 1±4% depending on the component in typical ranges for biological liquids, including Mg2+, HCO3- and H2PO4- determination and pH measurement without an oxide glass pH-electrode. # 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Potentiometric E-Tongue System for Geosmin/Isoborneol Presence Monitoring in Drinkable Water

A potentiometric E-tongue system based on low-selective polymeric membrane and chalcogenide-glass electrodes is employed to monitor the taste-and-odor-causing pollutants, geosmin (GE) and 2-methyl-isoborneol (MIB), in drinkable water. The developed approach may permit a low-cost monitoring of these compounds in concentrations near the odor threshold concentrations (OTCs) of 20 ng/L. The experiments demonstrate the success of the E-tongue in combination with partial least squares (PLS) regression technique for the GE/MIB concentration prediction, showing also the possibility to discriminate tap water samples containing these compounds at two concentration levels: the same OTC order from 20 to 100 ng/L and at higher concentrations from 0.25 to 10 mg/L by means of PLS-discriminant analysis (DA) method. Based on the results, developed multisensory system can be considered a promising easy-to-handle tool for express evaluation of GE/MIB species and to provide a timely detection of alarm situations in case of extreme pollution before the drinkable water is delivered to end users