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DOE OSTI2022

Sensitivity of the MicroBooNE experiment to dark trident interactions

This note describes an ongoing search for dark tridents in the MicroBooNE detector. The dark trident interaction is a proposed interaction of sub-GeV dark matter with ordinary matter that would allow an exploration of a hidden dark sector composed of a dark scalar or fermion χ and a dark photon A'. This dark matter candidate can be produced at fixed-target neutrino beams such as the NuMI beam and travel uninterrupted to the MicroBooNE liquid argon detector. The interaction with the liquid argon occurs through the process χ + Ar → χ + Ar + A' where the dark photon promptly decays inside the detector through: A' → e + + e - . Two event selection strategies are explored, one using boosted decision trees and the other one applying a convolutional neural network. For both analyses a projected sensitivity in MicroBooNE after 2 × 10 21 protons on target is presented.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Mini-CAPTAIN liquid argon time projection chamber

This manuscript describes the commissioning of the Mini-CAPTAIN liquid argon detector in a neutron beam at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), which led to a first measurement of high-energy neutron interactions in argon. The Mini-CAPTAIN detector consists of a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) with an accompanying photomultiplier tube (PMT) array sealed inside a liquid-argon-filled cryostat. The liquid argon is constantly purified and recirculated in a closed-loop cycle during operation. The specifications and assembly of the detector subsystems and an overview of their performance in a neutron beam are reported.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Measurement of ambient radon progeny decay rates and energy spectra in liquid argon using the MicroBooNE detector

We report measurements of radon progeny in liquid argon within the MicroBooNE time projection chamber (LArTPC). The presence of specific radon daughters in MicroBooNE’s 85 metric tons of active liquid argon bulk is probed with newly developed charge-based low-energy reconstruction tools and analysis techniques to detect correlated Bi 214 − Po 214 radioactive decays. Special datasets taken during periods of active radon doping enable new demonstrations of the calorimetric capabilities of single-phase neutrino LArTPCs for β and α particles with electron-equivalent energies ranging from 0.1 to 3.0 MeV. By applying Bi 214 − Po 214 detection algorithms to data recorded over a 46-day period, no statistically significant presence of radioactive Bi 214 is detected, and a limit on the activity is placed at < 0.35 mBq / kg at the 95% confidence level. This bulk Bi 214 radiopurity limit—the first ever reported for a liquid argon detector incorporating liquid-phase purification—is then further discussed in relation to the targeted upper limit of 1 mBq / kg on bulk Rn 222 activity for the DUNE neutrino detector. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

Photon Detection System Calibration for DUNE

Photon Detection System Calibration for DUNE Not scheduled 20m Conference Center (University of California, Irvine) Poster New Technologies for Neutrino Physics Poster session Speaker Denis Torres (South Dakota School of Mines and Technology) Description The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that relies on a precise Photon Detection System (PDS) to provide accurate timing information, enhance sensitivity to low-energy and non-beam events, and support detector performance studies in liquid argon time projection chambers. Achieving these goals requires a well-understood and stable optical calibration strategy that operates reliably under cryogenic conditions. In this poster, I will present PDS calibration studies performed in ProtoDUNE, focusing on the characterization of the ultraviolet (UV) light calibration system and key optical components in the light-delivery chain. I will discuss measurements of optical fiber transmission, SMA-to-SMA connector and feedthrough interface losses, and diffuser assemblies, emphasizing wavelength dependence, attenuation, and performance under cryogenic thermal cycling and stability tests. These studies provide quantitative inputs for understanding light transport, uniformity, and long-term reliability of the PDS in large-scale liquid argon detectors, and they directly inform calibration strategies for the DUNE Far Detector.

Torres Muñoz, Denis [South Dakota Sch. Mines Tech.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Status of Measuring Cross Sections of Hadrons on Argon with ProtoDUNE-SP

ProtoDUNE Single-Phase is a 700-ton liquid argon detector operated in the CERN Neutrino Platform from 2018 to 2020. It is part of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment with a 40 kT liquid argon far detector to be built at the Sanford Underground Research Facility and a near detector, with both argon and non-argon detector technologies, to be hosted at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. A critical uncertainty to understand in the neutrino oscillation program of DUNE is the uncertainty on final state interactions, either reaction or elastic, of various hadrons on argon since the scattering of neutrino-induced hadrons off argon bias the hadron's measured energy. It can also prevent algorithms from identifying the hadron's particle type. Protons, kaons, and pions from the beam are especially important for the DUNE neutrino program as they represent common final state particles in neutrino interactions off a nucl eus. Therefore, ProtoDUNE is analyzing the test beam data to measure cross sections of pions, protons, and kaons on argon, aiming to tune parameters that model charged particle scattering off argon. This talk will discuss the data-taking program for ProtoDUNE and an overview of the status and results of measuring cross sections of pions, protons, and kaons on argon. It will conclude with a brief overview of how these measurements can be used for future liquid argon neutrino detectors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Gas electroluminescence in a dual phase xenon-doped argon detector

Noble element detectors using argon or xenon as the detection medium are widely used in the searches for rare neutrino and dark matter interactions. Xenon doping in liquid argon can preserve attractive properties of an argon target while enhancing the detectable signals with properties of xenon. Here, in this work, we deployed a dual-phase liquid argon detector with up to 4% xenon doping in the liquid and studied its gas electroluminescence properties as a function of xenon concentration. At ∼2% xenon doping in liquid argon, we measured ∼34 ppm of xenon in the gas and observed ∼2.5 times larger electroluminescence signals using vacuum ultraviolet silicon photomultipliers than those in pure argon. Analysis of signals of different wavelengths confirms that the argon gas electroluminescence process is strongly modified by the addition of xenon. We propose an analytical model to describe the underlying energy transfer mechanism in argon-xenon gas mixtures. Lastly, the implications of this measurement for low-energy ionization signal detection will be discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Gamma Ray Detection In Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers

Gamma rays are photons in excess of 100 keV of energy and can be produced by a variety of mechanisms like radioactive decay and inelastic neutrino-argon interactions. A reconstruc- tion of Compton scattering gamma rays was developed for use in liquid argon time projection chambers. This reconstruction was tested with detectors developed to demonstrate the ca- pabilities of Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Near Detector Liquid Argon target (ND LAr). In October 2024, a radioactive fluorine-18 source was placed next to the Full Scale Demonstrator. The data obtained was used to test this reconstruction algorithm. It was able to determine the direction of the photons with an error of less than 10 percent. In addition to this work, there has been significant work on designing a liquid argon based Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner. PET scanners detect gamma rays emitted by a tracer chemical to help screen for diseases like cancer. In addition to the applications to medical imaging, this thesis briefly explores the applications of this reconstruction to de-excitation photons produced in interactions between neutrinos and argon nuclei. These applications could improve studies focusing on neutrinos originating from accelerators and supernovae.

Murphy, Thomas [Syracuse U.]↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electromagnetic shower reconstruction in the ICARUS liquid argon time projection chamber detector

The ICARUS-T600 liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) detector is taking data at shallow depth as the far detector of the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab, to search for a possible sterile neutrino signal at $\Delta m^{2} \approx 1~\text{eV}^{2}$ with the Booster (BNB) and Main Injector (NuMI) neutrino beams at $\GeV{\sim 0.8}$ and $\GeV{\sim 2}$ average energies respectively. The LArTPC technology, developed by the ICARUS collaboration and now a standard in neutrino physics, offers impressive charged-particle imaging capabilities with $\sim1 \ \text{mm}$ spatial resolution, enabling efficient discrimination between track-like signatures (e.g., from muons, pions, and protons) and electromagnetic showers (from electrons and photons). Moreover, electron and photon signatures can be distinguished both with the calorimetric measurement of local energy depositions at the shower start and with the cm-scale conversion gap signature of photons. This contribution discusses event reconstruction at ICARUS focusing on Pandora, a multi-algorithm pattern recognition software widely used in LArTPC experiments. Over a hundred Pandora algorithms and tools are used to reconstruct cosmic rays and neutrino interactions in the ICARUS detector. Recent developments have focused on the reconstruction of electromagnetic shower signatures, crucial to ensure a robust and efficient reconstruction of charged-current $\nu_e$ interactions, which serve as a key signature of sterile neutrino oscillations at SBN. In this contribution, recent improvements to the reconstruction are discussed, focusing on the discrimination between tracks and electromagnetic showers using neutrino simulations and data.

Triozzi, Riccardo [Padua U.; INFN, Padua] (ORCID:0↗
DOE OSTI2025

First Event-by-Event Identification of Cherenkov Radiation from Sub-Mev Particles in Liquid Argon

This Letter reports the event-by-event observation of Cherenkov light from sub-MeV electrons in a high scintillation light-yield liquid argon detector by the coherent CAPTAIN-Mills (CCM) experiment. The CCM200 detector, located at Los Alamos National Laboratory, instruments seven tons (fiducial volume) of liquid argon with 200 eight-inch photomultiplier tubes, 80% of which are coated in a wavelength-shifting material and the remaining 20% are uncoated. In the prompt time region of an event, defined as - 6 ≤ t < 0 ns relative to the event start time t = 0 , the uncoated photomultiplier tubes are primarily sensitive to visible Cherenkov photons. Using gamma rays from a Na 22 source for production of sub-MeV electrons, we isolated prompt Cherenkov light with > 5 σ confidence and developed a selection to obtain a low-background electromagnetic sample. This is the first event-by-event observation of Cherenkov photons from sub-MeV electrons in a high-yield scintillator detector and represents a milestone in low-energy particle detector development.

Aguilar-Arevalo, A. A. [UNAM, Mexico]↗
DOE OSTI2026

DC Cryogenic Modeling of Open-Source SkyWater 130 nm MOSFETs at 77 K Using BSIM4

Cryogenic applications in high-energy physics (HEP) demand reliable, low-power CMOS electronics capable of operating at liquid nitrogen temperatures (77 K). The open-source SkyWater 130nm (SKY130) CMOS process has previously been shown to operate at temperatures as low as 4 K making it a promising candidate for HEP applications. In this work, we characterize and model SKY130 low-threshold voltage transistors at 77 K, which is a temperature commonly used in modeling applications for liquid argon detectors. DC characteristic measurements were performed at both room temperature and liquid nitrogen temperature. We created a cryogenic modeling approach to produce a SPICE-compatible, isothermal BSIM4-based model for select transistor sizes at 77 K. The resulting model agrees with data at 77 K with an average error on the order of 20% (relative RMS) and shows no dependence on drain voltage. Due to the open-source nature of SKY130, we have made our models publicly available on Github. We hope this work will continue the trend for democratizing circuit design at cryogenic temperatures in high-energy physics by enabling open access to accurate cryogenic CMOS device models at 77 K.

Beall, F. [Texas U., Arlington]↗
DOE OSTI2022

High Energy Experimental Research Effort: Intensity Frontier Physics with Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (Final Technical Report DE-SC0017925)

The proposal “University of Florida High Energy Physics Intensity Frontier Research: Liquid Argon Detectors” requested one year of funding support for the PI, one postdoc and one graduate student to start their involvement in ongoing and upcoming experiments that use Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LAr TPCs) to reconstruct neutrino interactions. Specifically, it was proposed that the group join the Short Baseline Near Detector (SBND) at Fermilab and that the PI continue their involvement in the Deep Underground Neutrino Detector (DUNE).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Spatial and temporal evaluations of the liquid argon purity in ProtoDUNE-SP

Liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) rely on highly pure argon to ensure that ionization electrons produced by charged particles reach readout arrays. ProtoDUNE Single-Phase (ProtoDUNE-SP) was an approximately 700-ton liquid argon detector intended to prototype the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Far Detector Horizontal Drift module. It contains two drift volumes bisected by the cathode plane assembly, which is biased to create an almost uniform electric field in both volumes. The DUNE Far Detector modules must have robust cryogenic systems capable of filtering argon and supplying the TPC with clean liquid. This paper will explore comparisons of the argon purity measured by the purity monitors with those measured using muons in the TPC from October 2018 to November 2018. A new method is introduced to measure the liquid argon purity in the TPC using muons crossing both drift volumes of ProtoDUNE-SP. For extended periods on the timescale of weeks, the drift electron lifetime was measured to be above 30 ms using both systems. A particular focus will be placed on the measured purity of argon as a function of position in the detector.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Argonaut - A Robotic System for Cryogenic Environments

Fermilab and the HEP community invest significant resources into liquid argon detectors. The largest and most expensive of these detectors will be located in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). However, recent experiences have shown that there are limited avenues of monitoring, intervention, and interaction in the internal liquid environment. This proposal shows a technological path that could provide a valuable tool to ensure or at least improve the management of these HEP detectors. The development of a robotic system named Argonaut will demonstrate several technologies including 1) demonstration of suitable mobility of a small robotic device at liquid argon temperatures, 2) demonstration of wireless communication, 3) demonstration of improved diagnostics capabilities - such as tunable optics with motion control, 4) demonstration of interconnectivity of a robotic system with hardware residing within the detector. This initial research will be a seed for extended development in cold robotics and associated technologies. This work will allow FNAL to contribute a significant technology capability to recent efforts to cryogenic detector operations.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗