Michel Electron Reconstruction Using Cosmic-Ray Data from the MicroBooNE LArTPC
Abstract
The MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) has been taking data at Fermilab since 2015 collecting, in addition to neutrino beam, cosmic-ray muons. Results are presented on the reconstruction of Michel electrons produced by the decay at rest of cosmic-ray muons. Michel electrons are abundantly produced in the TPC, and given their well known energy spectrum can be used to study MicroBooNE's detector response to low-energy electrons (electrons with energies up to ~50 MeV). We describe the fully-automated algorithm developed to reconstruct Michel electrons, with which a sample of ~14,000 Michel electron candidates is obtained. Most of this article is dedicated to studying the impact of radiative photons produced by Michel electrons on the accuracy and resolution of their energy measurement. In this energy range, ionization and bremsstrahlung photon production contribute similarly to electron energy loss in argon, leading to a complex electron topology in the TPC. By profiling the performance of the reconstruction algorithm on simulation we show that the ability to identify and include energy deposited by radiative photons leads to a significant improvement in the energy measurement of low-energy electrons. The fractional energy resolution we measure improves from over 30% to ~20% when we attempt to include radiative photons in the reconstruction. These studies are relevant to a large number of analyses which aim to study neutrinos by measuring electrons produced by $$\nu_e$$ interactions over a broad energy range.
- Authors:
-
- et al.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
- Contributing Org.:
- MicroBooNE Collaboration; The MicroBooNE Collaboration
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1358108
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1408695
- Report Number(s):
- arXiv:1704.02927; FERMILAB-PUB-17-090-ND; BNL-114351-2017-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-0221; 1590896
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359; SC0012704
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Instrumentation
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 09; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-0221
- Publisher:
- Institute of Physics (IOP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Miclel electrons; LArTPC; MicroBooNE; Neutrino detectors; Noble liquid detectors (scintillation, ionization, double-phase); Performance of High Energy Physics Detectors; Time projection chambers
Citation Formats
Acciarri, R. Michel Electron Reconstruction Using Cosmic-Ray Data from the MicroBooNE LArTPC. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/12/09/P09014.
Acciarri, R. Michel Electron Reconstruction Using Cosmic-Ray Data from the MicroBooNE LArTPC. United States. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/12/09/P09014.
Acciarri, R. Thu .
"Michel Electron Reconstruction Using Cosmic-Ray Data from the MicroBooNE LArTPC". United States. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/12/09/P09014. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1358108.
@article{osti_1358108,
title = {Michel Electron Reconstruction Using Cosmic-Ray Data from the MicroBooNE LArTPC},
author = {Acciarri, R.},
abstractNote = {The MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) has been taking data at Fermilab since 2015 collecting, in addition to neutrino beam, cosmic-ray muons. Results are presented on the reconstruction of Michel electrons produced by the decay at rest of cosmic-ray muons. Michel electrons are abundantly produced in the TPC, and given their well known energy spectrum can be used to study MicroBooNE's detector response to low-energy electrons (electrons with energies up to ~50 MeV). We describe the fully-automated algorithm developed to reconstruct Michel electrons, with which a sample of ~14,000 Michel electron candidates is obtained. Most of this article is dedicated to studying the impact of radiative photons produced by Michel electrons on the accuracy and resolution of their energy measurement. In this energy range, ionization and bremsstrahlung photon production contribute similarly to electron energy loss in argon, leading to a complex electron topology in the TPC. By profiling the performance of the reconstruction algorithm on simulation we show that the ability to identify and include energy deposited by radiative photons leads to a significant improvement in the energy measurement of low-energy electrons. The fractional energy resolution we measure improves from over 30% to ~20% when we attempt to include radiative photons in the reconstruction. These studies are relevant to a large number of analyses which aim to study neutrinos by measuring electrons produced by $\nu_e$ interactions over a broad energy range.},
doi = {10.1088/1748-0221/12/09/P09014},
journal = {Journal of Instrumentation},
number = 09,
volume = 12,
place = {United States},
year = {2017},
month = {9}
}
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