Engineering topics

Bradley, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Bradley, A..

11 records

DOE OSTI2016

First Results of the LUX Dark Matter Experiment

LUX (Large Underground Xenon) is a dark matter direct detection experiment deployed at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD, operating a 370 kg dual-phase xenon TPC. Results of the first WIMP search run were presented in late 2013, for the analysis of 85.3 live-days with a fiducial volume of 118 kg, taken during the period of April to August 2013. The experiment exhibited a sensitivity to spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering with a minimum upper limit on the cross section of 7.6×10 -46 cm 2 at a WIMP mass of 33 GeV/c 2 , thus becoming the world's leading WIMP search result, in conflict with several previous claimed hints of discovery.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2016

FPGA-based trigger system for the LUX dark matter experiment

LUX is a two-phase (liquid/gas) xenon time projection chamber designed to detect nuclear recoils resulting from interactions with dark matter particles. Signals from the detector are processed with an FPGA-based digital trigger system that analyzes the incoming data in real-time, with just a few microsecond latency. The system enables first pass selection of events of interest based on their pulse shape characteristics and 3D localization of the interactions. It has been shown to be >99% efficient in triggering on S2 signals induced by only few extracted liquid electrons. It is continuously and reliably operating since its full underground deployment in early 2013. This document is an overview of the systems capabilities, its inner workings, and its performance.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2016

Tritium calibration of the LUX dark matter experiment

Here, we present measurements of the electron-recoil (ER) response of the LUX dark matter detector based upon 170,000 highly pure and spatially uniform tritium decays. We reconstruct the tritium energy spectrum using the combined energy model and find good agreement with expectations. We report the average charge and light yields of ER events in liquid xenon at 180 and 105 V/cm and compare the results to the NEST model. We also measure the mean charge recombination fraction and its fluctuations, and we investigate the location and width of the LUX ER band. These results provide input to a reanalysis of the LUX run 3 weakly interacting massive particle search.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Results from the LUX dark matter experiment

© 2014 Elsevier B.V. The LUX (Large Underground Xenon) experiment aims at the direct detection of dark matter particles via their collisions with xenon nuclei. The 370. kg two-phase liquid xenon time projection chamber measures simultaneously the scintillation and ionization from interactions in the target. The ratio of these two signals provides very good discrimination between potential nuclear recoil and electronic recoil signals to search for WIMP-nucleon scattering. The LUX detector operates at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (Lead, South Dakota, USA) since February 2013. First results were presented in late 2013 setting the world's most stringent limits on WIMP-nucleon scattering cross-sections over a wide range of WIMP masses. A 300 day run beginning in 2014 will further improve the sensitivity and new calibration techniques will reduce systematics for the WIMP signal search.

Horn, Markus↗

DOE OSTI2015

The LUX experiment

We present the status and prospects of the LUX experiment, which employs approximately 300 kg of two-phase xenon to search for WIMP dark matter interactions. The LUX detector was commissioned at the surface laboratory of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD, between December 2011 and February 2012 and the detector has been operating underground since January, 2013. These proceedings review the results of the commissioning run as well as the status of underground data-taking.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Radon-related backgrounds in the LUX dark matter search

The LUX detector is currently in operation at the Davis Campus at the 4850’ level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD to directly search for WIMP dark matter. Knowing the type and rate of backgrounds is critical in a rare, low energy event search, and LUX was designed, constructed, and deployed to mitigate backgrounds, both internal and external. An important internal background are decays of radon and its daughters. These consist of alpha decays, which are easily tagged and are a tracer of certain backgrounds, and beta decays, some of which are not as readily tagged and present a background for the WIMP search. We report on studies of alpha decay and discuss implications for the WIMP search.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2014

Radiogenic and muon-induced backgrounds in the LUX dark matter detector

The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter experiment aims to detect rare low-energy interactions from Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The radiogenic backgrounds in the LUX detector have been measured and compared with Monte Carlo simulation. Measurements of LUX high-energy data have provided direct constraints on all background sources contributing to the background model. The expected background rate from the background model for the 85.3 day WIMP search run is (2.6±0.2 stat ±0.4 sys ) ×10 -3 events keV$ ee\atop{-1}$ kg -1 day -1 in a 118 kg fiducial volume. The observed background rate is (3.6±0.4 stat )×10 -3 events keV$ ee\atop{-1}$ kg -1 day -1 , consistent with model projections. The expectation for the radiogenic background in a subsequent one-year run is presented.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2014

THE TENTH DATA RELEASE OF THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY: FIRST SPECTROSCOPIC DATA FROM THE SDSS-III APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY GALACTIC EVOLUTION EXPERIMENT

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has been in operation since 2000 April. This paper presents the Tenth Public Data Release (DR10) from its current incarnation, SDSS-III. This data release includes the first spectroscopic data from the Apache Point Observatory Galaxy Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), along with spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) taken through 2012 July. The APOGEE instrument is a near-infrared R ∼ 22,500 300 fiber spectrograph covering 1.514-1.696 μm. The APOGEE survey is studying the chemical abundances and radial velocities of roughly 100,000 red giant star candidates in the bulge, bar, disk, and halo of the Milky Way. DR10 includes 178,397 spectra of 57,454 stars, each typically observed three or more times, from APOGEE. Derived quantities from these spectra (radial velocities, effective temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities) are also included. DR10 also roughly doubles the number of BOSS spectra over those included in the Ninth Data Release. DR10 includes a total of 1,507,954 BOSS spectra comprising 927,844 galaxy spectra, 182,009 quasar spectra, and 159,327 stellar spectra selected over 6373.2 deg{sup 2}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

First Results from the LUX Dark Matter Experiment at the Sanford Underground Research Facility

The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment is a dual-phase xenon time-projection chamber operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (Lead, South Dakota). The LUX cryostat was filled for the first time in the underground laboratory in February 2013. We report here results of the first WIMP search data set, taken during the period from April to August 2013, presenting the analysis of 85.3 live days of data with a fiducial volume of 118 kg. A profile-likelihood analysis technique shows our data to be consistent with the background-only hypothesis, allowing 90% confidence limits to be set on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering with a minimum upper limit on the cross section of 7.6 × 1 0 - 46 cm 2 at a WIMP mass of 33 GeV / c 2 . We find that the LUX data are in disagreement with low-mass WIMP signal interpretations of the results from several recent direct detection experiments.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

NASA NTRS1991

Hubble Space Telescope pointing control system: Designed for performance and mission operations

The Hubble Space Telescope was designed to be an orbiting astronomical observatory which could be operated in the same manner as ground based observatories. The design drivers for the pointing control system's hardware and software were the requirements of an absolute pointing accuracy of 4.8E-8 radians and pointing stability (jitter) of 3.4E-8 radians. Of comparable importance was the objective of providing a flexible command methodology and structure to enable seven day operational planning employing stored program command and real time command capability. The pointing control system hardware, software, safemode control schemes, ground system monitoring capability, and in-orbit results are reviewed.

Bradley, A.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Space Telescope Pointing Control System software

The Space Telescope Pointing Control System software is in the advanced development stage, having been tested on both the airbearing and the static simulator. The overall structure of the software is discussed, along with timing and sizing evaluations. The interaction between the controls analysts and software designer is described.

Dougherty, H.↗