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Title: Design and performance of a 35-ton liquid argon time projection chamber as a prototype for future very large detectors

Journal Article · · Journal of Instrumentation
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  1. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  2. Univ. of Sussex, Brighton (United Kingdom)
  3. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
  4. Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)
  5. Lancaster Univ., Bailrigg (United Kingdom)
  6. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  7. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
  8. Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
  9. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  10. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  11. Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
  12. Univ. Federal de Goias (Brazil)
  13. Univ. of Sheffield (United Kingdom)
  14. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
  15. Univ. of Houston, TX (United States)
  16. Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)
  17. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
  18. Univ. Federal do ABC, Santo André (Brazil)
  19. Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States)
  20. Univ. Estadual de Campinas (Brazil)
  21. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
  22. Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States)
  23. European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland)
  24. South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD (United States)
  25. National Centre for Nuclear Research (Poland)
  26. Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States)
  27. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Liquid argon time projection chamber technology is an attractive choice for large neutrino detectors, as it provides a high-resolution active target and it is expected to be scalable to very large masses. Consequently, it has been chosen as the technology for the first module of the DUNE far detector. However, the fiducial mass required for "far detectors" of the next generation of neutrino oscillation experiments far exceeds what has been demonstrated so far. Scaling to this larger mass, as well as the requirement for underground construction places a number of additional constraints on the design. A prototype 35-ton cryostat was built at Fermi National Acccelerator Laboratory to test the functionality of the components foreseen to be used in a very large far detector. The Phase I run, completed in early 2014, demonstrated that liquid argon could be maintained at sufficient purity in a membrane cryostat. A time projection chamber was installed for the Phase II run, which collected data in February and March of 2016. The Phase II run was a test of the modular anode plane assemblies with wrapped wires, cold readout electronics, and integrated photon detection systems. While the details of the design do not match exactly those chosen for the DUNE far detector, the 35-ton TPC prototype is a demonstration of the functionality of the basic components. Measurements are performed using the Phase II data to extract signal and noise characteristics and to align the detector components. A measurement of the electron lifetime is presented, and a novel technique for measuring a track's position based on pulse properties is described.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); National Science foundation (NSF); Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC); Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359; ST/M002667/1; AC02-76SF00515; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1602989
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1633951; OSTI ID: 1756163
Report Number(s):
arXiv:1912.08739; FERMILAB-PUB-20-092-ND; oai:inspirehep.net:1771604; TRN: US2104059
Journal Information:
Journal of Instrumentation, Vol. 15, Issue 03; ISSN 1748-0221
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 3 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Figures / Tables (13)

Figure 1(p. 5)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 6)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 11)figure Figure 3
Figure 4(p. 12)figure Figure 4
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Figure 6(p. 15)figure Figure 6
Figure 7(p. 17)figure Figure 7
Figure 8(p. 18)figure Figure 8
Figure 9(p. 19)figure Figure 9
Table 1(p. 21)table Table 1
Figure 10(p. 22)figure Figure 10
Figure 11(p. 23)figure Figure 11
Figure 12(p. 26)figure Figure 12

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