Report on the quality of the LHCb-Muon four-gap MWPC produced at LNF

The LNF-LHCb team produced 185 four-gap Multi-Wire Proportional Chambers (MWPC). In this note we report the summary of the results of the panel quality controls and of the measurements performed on the assembled detector

Carbon nanotubes as target for directional detection of light WIMP

In this paper I will briefly introduce the idea of using Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) as target for the detection of low mass WIMPs with the additional information of directionality. I will also present the experimental efforts of developing a Time Projection Chamber with a CNT target inside and the results of a test beam at the Beam Test Facility of INFN-LNF.Comment: 3 figures, IFAE2017 poster session proceeding

Measurements of the Cerenkov light emitted by a TeO2 crystal

Bolometers have proven to be good instruments to search for rare processes because of their excellent energy resolution and their extremely low intrinsic background. In this kind of detectors, the capability of discriminating alpha particles from electrons represents an important aspect for the background reduction. One possibility for obtaining such a discrimination is provided by the detection of the Cerenkov light which, at the low energies of the natural radioactivity, is only emitted by electrons. In this paper, the results of the analysis of the light emitted by a TeO2 crystal at room temperature when transversed by a cosmic ray are reported. Light is promptly emitted after the particle crossing and a clear evidence of its directionality is also found. These results represent a strong indication that Cerenkov light is the main, if not even the only, component of the light signal in a TeO2 crystal. They open the possibility to make large improvements in the performance of experiments based on this kind of material

MONDO: A tracker for the characterization of secondary fast and ultrafast neutrons emitted in particle therapy

n/

Measurements and optimization of the light yield of a TeO2_2 crystal

Bolometers have proven to be good instruments to search for rare processes because of their excellent energy resolution and their extremely low intrinsic background. In this kind of detectors, the capability of discriminating alpha particles from electrons represents an important aspect for the background reduction. One possibility for obtaining such a discrimination is provided by the detection of the Cherenkov light which, at the low energies of the natural radioactivity, is only emitted by electrons. This paper describes the method developed to evaluate the amount of light produced by a crystal of TeO$_2$ when hit by a 511 keV photon. The experimental measurements and the results of a detailed simulation of the crystal and the readout system are shown and compared. A light yield of about 52 Cherenkov photons per deposited MeV was measured. The effect of wrapping the crystal with a PTFE layer, with the aim of maximizing the light collection, is also presented

Study of the performance of the LHCb MWPC with cosmic rays

In this note we report the results of measurements performed with cosmic rays on different LHCb Muon Chambers. The main characteristics of the chambers have been investigated as a function of the high voltage value in order to achieve a better comprehension of the detector performance both for optimizing the chamber working conditions on the experimental apparatus and for providing useful information for the Monte Carlo simulation

Gas leakage and HV test procedure for the INFN Muon MWPCs

The Muon MWPCs produced by INFN laboratories are subject to gas leakage and HV tests before the installation on the LHCb experiment. The test procedure and the software tools developed are described in this paper

Silicon Photo-Multiplier radiation hardness tests with a beam controlled neutron source

We report radiation hardness tests performed at the Frascati Neutron Generator on silicon Photo-Multipliers, semiconductor photon detectors built from a square matrix of avalanche photo-diodes on a silicon substrate. Several samples from different manufacturers have been irradiated integrating up to 7x10^10 1-MeV-equivalent neutrons per cm^2. Detector performances have been recorded during the neutron irradiation and a gradual deterioration of their properties was found to happen already after an integrated fluence of the order of 10^8 1-MeV-equivalent neutrons per cm^2.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Submitted to Nucl. Inst. Meth.

A new method based on noise counting to monitor the frontend electronics of the LHCb muon detector

A new method has been developed to check the correct behaviour of the frontend electronics of the LHCb muon detector. This method is based on the measurement of the electronic noise rate at different thresholds of the frontend discriminator. The method was used to choose the optimal discriminator thresholds. A procedure based on this method was implemented in the detector control system and allowed the detection of a small percentage of frontend channels which had deteriorated. A Monte Carlo simulation has been performed to check the validity of the method