Bulk NaI(Tl) scintillation low energy events selection with the ANAIS-0 module

Dark matter particles scattering off some target nuclei are expected to deposit very small energies in form of nuclear recoils (below 100 keV). Because of the low scintillation efficiency for nuclear recoils vs. electron recoils, in most of the scintillating targets considered in the search for dark matter, the region below 10 keVee concentrates most of the expected dark matter signal. For this reason, very low energy threshold (at or below 2 keVee) and very low background are required. This is the case of the ANAIS (Annual modulation with NaI Scintillators) experiment. A good knowledge of the detector response function for real scintillation events, a good characterization of other anomalous or noise event populations contributing in that energy range, and the development of convenient filtering procedures for the latter are mandatory to achieve the required low background at such a low energy. In this work we will present the specific protocols developed to select bulk scintillation events in NaI(Tl), and its application to data obtained with the ANAIS-0 prototype. Slight differences in time constants are expected in scintillation pulses produced by nuclear or electron recoils in NaI(Tl), so in order to analyze the effect of these filtering procedures in the case of a recoil population attributable to dark matter, data from a neutron calibration have been used.Comment: 13 pages, 22 figure

Bulk NaI(Tl) scintillation low energy events selection with the ANAIS-0 module

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License Version CC BY 4.0.-- et al.Dark matter particles scattering off target nuclei are expected to deposit very small energies in form of nuclear recoils (below 100 keV). Because of the low scintillation efficiency for nuclear recoils as compared to electron recoils, in most of the scintillating targets considered in the search for dark matter, the region below 10 keVee (electron equivalent energy) concentrates most of the expected dark matter signal. For this reason, very low energy threshold (at or below 2 keVee) and very low background are required to be competitive in the search for dark matter with such detection technique. This is the case of Annual modulation with NaI Scintillators (ANAIS), which is an experiment to be carried out at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. A good knowledge of the detector response function for real scintillation events in the active volume, a good characterization of other anomalous or noise event populations contributing in that energy range, and the development of convenient filtering procedures for the latter are mandatory in order to achieve the required low background at such a low energy. In this work we present the characteristics of different types of events observed in large size NaI(Tl) detectors, and the event-type identification techniques developed. Such techniques allow distinguishing among events associated with bulk NaI scintillation, and events related to muon interactions in the detectors or shielding, photomultiplier origin events, and analysis event fakes. We describe the specific protocols developed to build bulk scintillation events spectra from the raw data and we apply them to data obtained with one of the ANAIS prototypes, ANAIS-0. Nuclear recoil type events were also explored using data from a neutron calibration; however pulse shape cuts were found not to be effective to discriminate them from electron recoil events. The effect of the filtering procedures developed in this nuclear recoils population has been analyzed in order to properly correct cut efficiencies in dark matter analysis.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and the European Regional Development Fund (MINECO-FEDER) (FPA2011-23749), the Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Programme under grants MULTIDARK CSD2009-00064 and CPAN CSD2007-00042, and the Gobierno de Aragón (Group in Nuclear and Astroparticle Physics, ARAID Foundation and C. Cuesta predoctoral grant). C. Ginestra and P. Villar have been supported by the MINECO Subprograma de Formación de Personal Investigador.Funded by SCOAP3Peer reviewe