243 research outputs found
Energy Resolution studies for NEXT
This work aims to present the current state of simulations of
electroluminescence (EL) produced in gas-based detectors with special interest
for NEXT --- Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC. NEXT is a neutrinoless
double beta decay experiment, thus needs outstanding energy resolution which
can be achieved by using electroluminescence. The process of light production
is reviewed and properties such as EL yield and associated fluctuations,
excitation and electroluminescence efficiencies, and energy resolution, are
calculated. An EL production region with a 5 mm width gap between two infinite
parallel planes is considered, where a uniform electric field is produced. The
pressure and temperature considered are 10 bar and 293 K, respectively. The
results show that, even for low values of VUV photon detection efficiency, good
energy resolution can be achieved: below 0.4 % (FWHM) at 2.458
MeV
Targeted prevention of common mental health disorders in university students: randomised controlled trial of a transdiagnostic trait-focused web-based intervention
Background:
A large proportion of university students show symptoms of common mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, substance use disorders and eating disorders. Novel interventions are required that target underlying factors of multiple disorders.<p></p>
Aims:
To evaluate the efficacy of a transdiagnostic trait-focused web-based intervention aimed at reducing symptoms of common mental disorders in university students.<p></p>
Method:
Students were recruited online (n = 1047, age: M = 21.8, SD = 4.2) and categorised into being at high or low risk for mental disorders based on their personality traits. Participants were allocated to a cognitive-behavioural trait-focused (n = 519) or a control intervention (n = 528) using computerised simple randomisation. Both interventions were fully automated and delivered online (trial registration: ISRCTN14342225). Participants were blinded and outcomes were self-assessed at baseline, at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks after registration. Primary outcomes were current depression and anxiety, assessed on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD7). Secondary outcome measures focused on alcohol use, disordered eating, and other outcomes.<p></p>
Results:
Students at high risk were successfully identified using personality indicators and reported poorer mental health. A total of 520 students completed the 6-week follow-up and 401 students completed the 12-week follow-up. Attrition was high across intervention groups, but comparable to other web-based interventions. Mixed effects analyses revealed that at 12-week follow up the trait-focused intervention reduced depression scores by 3.58 (p<.001, 95%CI [5.19, 1.98]) and anxiety scores by 2.87 (p = .018, 95%CI [1.31, 4.43]) in students at high risk. In high-risk students, between group effect sizes were 0.58 (depression) and 0.42 (anxiety). In addition, self-esteem was improved. No changes were observed regarding the use of alcohol or disordered eating.<p></p>
Conclusions
This study suggests that a transdiagnostic web-based intervention for university students targeting underlying personality risk factors may be a promising way of preventing common mental disorders with a low-intensity intervention
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Calibration of the charge and energy loss per unit length of the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber using muons and protons
We describe a method used to calibrate the position- and time-dependent response of the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber anode wires to ionization particle energy loss. The method makes use of crossing cosmic-ray muons to partially correct anode wire signals for multiple effects as a function of time and position, including cross-connected TPC wires, space charge effects, electron attachment to impurities, diffusion, and recombination. The overall energy scale is then determined using fully-contained beam-induced muons originating and stopping in the active region of the detector. Using this method, we obtain an absolute energy scale uncertainty of 2% in data. We use stopping protons to further refine the relation between the measured charge and the energy loss for highly-ionizing particles. This data-driven detector calibration improves both the measurement of total deposited energy and particle identification based on energy loss per unit length as a function of residual range. As an example, the proton selection efficiency is increased by 2% after detector calibration
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Reconstruction and measurement of (100) MeV energy electromagnetic activity from π0 arrow γγ decays in the MicroBooNE LArTPC
We present results on the reconstruction of electromagnetic (EM) activity from photons produced in charged current νμ interactions with final state π0s. We employ a fully-automated reconstruction chain capable of identifying EM showers of (100) MeV energy, relying on a combination of traditional reconstruction techniques together with novel machine-learning approaches. These studies demonstrate good energy resolution, and good agreement between data and simulation, relying on the reconstructed invariant π0 mass and other photon distributions for validation. The reconstruction techniques developed are applied to a selection of νμ + Ar → μ + π0 + X candidate events to demonstrate the potential for calorimetric separation of photons from electrons and reconstruction of π0 kinematics
Spectral modeling of scintillator for the NEMO-3 and SuperNEMO detectors
We have constructed a GEANT4-based detailed software model of photon
transport in plastic scintillator blocks and have used it to study the NEMO-3
and SuperNEMO calorimeters employed in experiments designed to search for
neutrinoless double beta decay. We compare our simulations to measurements
using conversion electrons from a calibration source of and show
that the agreement is improved if wavelength-dependent properties of the
calorimeter are taken into account. In this article, we briefly describe our
modeling approach and results of our studies.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
Design and construction of the MicroBooNE Cosmic Ray Tagger system
The MicroBooNE detector utilizes a liquid argon time projection chamber
(LArTPC) with an 85 t active mass to study neutrino interactions along the
Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. With a deployment location near ground
level, the detector records many cosmic muon tracks in each beam-related
detector trigger that can be misidentified as signals of interest. To reduce
these cosmogenic backgrounds, we have designed and constructed a TPC-external
Cosmic Ray Tagger (CRT). This sub-system was developed by the Laboratory for
High Energy Physics (LHEP), Albert Einstein center for fundamental physics,
University of Bern. The system utilizes plastic scintillation modules to
provide precise time and position information for TPC-traversing particles.
Successful matching of TPC tracks and CRT data will allow us to reduce
cosmogenic background and better characterize the light collection system and
LArTPC data using cosmic muons. In this paper we describe the design and
installation of the MicroBooNE CRT system and provide an overview of a series
of tests done to verify the proper operation of the system and its components
during installation, commissioning, and physics data-taking
A Deep Neural Network for Pixel-Level Electromagnetic Particle Identification in the MicroBooNE Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber
We have developed a convolutional neural network (CNN) that can make a
pixel-level prediction of objects in image data recorded by a liquid argon time
projection chamber (LArTPC) for the first time. We describe the network design,
training techniques, and software tools developed to train this network. The
goal of this work is to develop a complete deep neural network based data
reconstruction chain for the MicroBooNE detector. We show the first
demonstration of a network's validity on real LArTPC data using MicroBooNE
collection plane images. The demonstration is performed for stopping muon and a
charged current neutral pion data samples
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