Modeling ionization and recombination from low energy nuclear recoils in liquid argon
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CENNS) is an as-yet undetected, flavor-independent neutrino interaction predicted by the Standard Model. Detection of CENNS could offer benefits for detection of supernova and solar neutrinos in astrophysics, or for detection of antineutrinos for nuclear reactor monitoring and nuclear nonproliferation. One challenge with detecting CENNS is the low energy deposition associated with a typical CENNS nuclear recoil. In addition, nuclear recoils result in lower ionization yields than those produced by electron recoils of the same energy. While a measurement of the nuclear recoil ionization yield in liquid argon in the keV energy range has been recently reported, a corresponding model for low-energy ionization yield in liquid argon does not exist. For this reason, a Monte Carlo simulation has been developed to predict the ionization yield at sub-10 keV energies. The model consists of two distinct components: (1) simulation of the atomic collision cascade with production of ionization, and (2) the thermalization and drift of ionization electrons in an applied electric field including local recombination. As an application of our results we report updated estimates of detectable ionization in liquid argon from CENNS at a nuclear reactor.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-07NA27344
- OSTI ID:
- 1426070
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1250264
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-744459; TRN: US1802216
- Journal Information:
- Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 69, Issue C; ISSN 0927-6505
- Publisher:
- ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Energy of the quasi-free electron in CO and HD: Probing intermolecular potentials within the local Wigner-Seitz model
|
journal | August 2018 |
Similar Records
Demonstration of Key Elements of a Dual Phase Argon Detection System Suitable for Measurement of Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering
Dual-phase argon ionization detector for measurement of coherent elastic neutrino scattering and medium-energy nuclear recoils