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Awe, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Awe, C..

13 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Measurement of the sodium and iodine scintillation quenching factors across multiple NaI(Tl) detectors to identify systematics

The amount of light produced by nuclear recoils in scintillating targets is strongly quenched compared to that produced by electrons. A precise understanding of the quenching factor is particularly interesting for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMP) searches and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering ( CE ν NS ) measurements since both rely on nuclear recoils, whereas energy calibrations are more readily accessible from electron recoils. There is a wide variation among the current measurements of the quenching factor in sodium iodide (NaI) crystals, especially below 10 keV, the energy region of interest for dark matter and CE ν NS studies. A better understanding of the quenching factor in NaI(Tl) is of particular interest for resolving the decades-old puzzle in the field of dark matter between the null results of most WIMP searches and the claim for dark matter detection by the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration. In this work, we measured sodium and iodine quenching factors for five small NaI(Tl) crystals grown with similar thallium concentrations and growth procedures. Unlike previous experiments, multiple crystals were tested, with measurements made in the same experimental setup to control systematic effects. The quenching factors agree in all crystals we investigated, and both sodium and iodine quenching factors are smaller than those reported by DAMA/LIBRA. The dominant systematic effect was due to the electron equivalent energy calibration originating from the nonproportional behavior of the NaI(Tl) light yield at lower energies, potentially the cause for the discrepancies among the previous measurements. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Measurement of Electron-Neutrino Charged-Current Cross Sections on 127 I with the COHERENT NaI$ν$E Detector

Using an 185-kg NaI[Tl] array, COHERENT has measured the inclusive electron-neutrino chargedcurrent cross section on 127 I with pion decay-at-rest neutrinos produced by the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Iodine is one the heaviest targets for which low-energy (≤ 50 MeV) inelastic neutrino-nucleus processes have been measured, and this is the first measurement of its inclusive cross section. After a five-year detector exposure, COHERENT reports a flux-averaged cross section for electron neutrinos of ${9.2}_{–1.8}^{+2.1}$ × 10 –40 cm 2 . This corresponds to a value that is ~41% lower than predicted using the MARLEY event generator with a measured Gamow-Teller strength distribution. In addition, the observed visible spectrum from charged-current scattering on 127 I has been measured between 10 and 55 MeV, and the exclusive zero-neutron and one-or-more-neutron emission cross sections are measured to be ${5.2}_{–3.1}^{+3.4}$ × 10 –40 and ${2.2}_{—2.2}^{+3.5}$ × 10 –40 cm 2 , respectively.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Measurement of scintillation response of CsI[Na] to low-energy nuclear recoils by COHERENT

Here, we present results of several measurements of CsI[Na] scintillation response to 3–60 keV energy nuclear recoils performed by the COHERENT collaboration using tagged neutron elastic scattering experiments and an endpoint technique. Earlier results, used to estimate the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) event rate for the first observation of this process achieved by COHERENT at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), have been reassessed. We discuss corrections for the identified systematic effects and update the respective uncertainty values. The impact of updated results on future precision tests of CEvNS is estimated. We scrutinize potential systematic effects that could affect each measurement. In particular we confirm the response of the H11934-200 Hamamatsu photomultiplier tube (PMT) used for the measurements presented in this study to be linear in the relevant signal scale region.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Monitoring the SNS basement neutron background with the MARS detector

Here, we present the analysis and results of the first dataset collected with the MARS neutron detector deployed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) for the purpose of monitoring and characterizing the beam-related neutron (BRN) background for the COHERENT collaboration. MARS was positioned next to the COH-CsI coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering detector in the SNS basement corridor. This is the basement location of closest proximity to the SNS target and thus, of highest neutrino flux, but it is also well shielded from the BRN flux by infill concrete and gravel. Furthermore, these data show the detector registered roughly one BRN per day. Using MARS' measured detection efficiency, the incoming BRN flux is estimated to be 1.20 ± 0.56 neutrons/m 2 /MWh for neutron energies above ~3.5 MeV and up to a few tens of MeV. We compare our results with previous BRN measurements in the SNS basement corridor reported by other neutron detectors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

High Energy Physics Opportunities Using Reactor Antineutrinos

Nuclear reactors are uniquely powerful, abundant, and flavor-pure sources of antineutrinos that continue to play a vital role in the US neutrino physics program. The US reactor antineutrino physics community is a diverse interest group encompassing many detection technologies and many particle physics topics, including Standard Model and short-baseline oscillations, BSM physics searches, and reactor flux and spectrum modeling. The community's aims offer strong complimentary with numerous aspects of the wider US neutrino program and have direct relevance to most of the topical sub-groups composing the Snowmass 2021 Neutrino Frontier. Reactor neutrino experiments also have a direct societal impact and have become a strong workforce and technology development pipeline for DOE National Laboratories and universities. This white paper, prepared as a submission to the Snowmass 2021 community organizing exercise, will survey the state of the reactor antineutrino physics field and summarize the ways in which current and future reactor antineutrino experiments can play a critical role in advancing the field of particle physics in the next decade.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Recoil imaging for dark matter, neutrinos, and physics beyond the Standard Model

Recoil imaging entails the detection of spatially resolved ionization tracks generated by particle interactions. This is a highly sought-after capability in many classes of detector, with broad applications across particle and astroparticle physics. However, at low energies, where ionization signatures are small in size, recoil imaging only seems to be a practical goal for micro-pattern gas detectors. This white paper outlines the physics case for recoil imaging, and puts forward a decadal plan to advance towards the directional detection of low-energy recoils with sensitivity and resolution close to fundamental performance limits. The science case covered includes: the discovery of dark matter into the neutrino fog, directional detection of sub-MeV solar neutrinos, the precision study of coherent-elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, the detection of solar axions, the measurement of the Migdal effect, X-ray polarimetry, and several other applied physics goals. We also outline the R&D programs necessary to test concepts that are crucial to advance detector performance towards their fundamental limit: single primary electron sensitivity with full 3D spatial resolution at the $\sim$100 micron-scale. These advancements include: the use of negative ion drift, electron counting with high-definition electronic readout, time projection chambers with optical readout, and the possibility for nuclear recoil tracking in high-density gases such as argon. We also discuss the readout and electronics systems needed to scale-up such detectors to the ton-scale and beyond.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Quenching factor measurements of neon nuclei in neon gas

The NEWS-G collaboration uses spherical proportional counters (SPCs) to search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Here, in this paper, we report the first measurements of the nuclear quenching factor in neon gas at 2 bar using an SPC deployed in a neutron beam at the TUNL facility. The energy-dependence of the nuclear quenching factor is modeled using a simple power law: $αE^{β}_{nr}$; we determine its parameters by simultaneously fitting the data collected with the detector over a range of energies. We measured the following parameters in Ne : CH 4 at 2 bar: α= 0.2801±0.0050 (fit) ±0.0045 (sys) and β=0.0867±0.020 (fit) ±0.006 (sys). Our measurements do not agree with expected values from SRIM or Lindhard theory. We demonstrated the feasibility of performing quenching factor measurements at sub-keV energies in gases using SPCs and a neutron beam.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A D$_2$O detector for flux normalization of a pion decay-at-rest neutrino source

We report on the technical design and expected performance of a 592 kg heavy-water-Cherenkov detector to measure the absolute neutrino flux from the pion-decay-at-rest neutrino source at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The detector will be located roughly 20 m from the SNS target and will measure the neutrino flux with better than 5% statistical uncertainty in 2 years. This heavy-water detector will serve as the first module of a two-module detector system to ultimately measure the neutrino flux to 2–3% at both the First Target Station and the planned Second Target Station of the SNS. This detector will significantly reduce a dominant systematic uncertainty for neutrino cross-section measurements at the SNS, increasing the sensitivity of searches for new physics.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗