Liquid xenon scintillation measurements and pulse shape discrimination in the LUX dark matter detector

Akerib, D. S.; Alsum, S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Beltrame, P.; Bernard, E. P.; Bernstein, A.; Biesiadzinski, T. P.; Boulton, E. M.; Brás, P.; Byram, D.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Currie, A.; Cutter, J. E.; Davison, T. J.  R.; Dobi, A.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edwards, B. N.; Fallon, S. R.; Fan, A.; Fiorucci, S.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Genovesi, J.; Ghag, C.; Gilchriese, M. G.  D.; Hall, C. R.; Haselschwardt, S. J.; Hertel, S. A.; Hogan, D. P.; Horn, M.; Huang, D. Q.; Ignarra, C. M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Ji, W.; Kamdin, K.; Kazkaz, K.; Khaitan, D.; Knoche, R.; Lenardo, B. G.; Lesko, K. T.; Liao, J.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M. I.; Manalaysay, A.; Mannino, R. L.; Marzioni, M. F.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D. -M.; Mock, J.; Moongweluwan, M.; Morad, J. A.; Murphy, A. St.  J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H. N.; Neves, F.; O’Sullivan, K.; Oliver-Mallory, K. C.; Palladino, K. J.; Pease, E. K.; Rhyne, C.; Shaw, S.; Shutt, T. A.; Silva, C.; Solmaz, M.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; Sumner, T. J.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D. J.; Taylor, W. C.; Tennyson, B. P.; Terman, P. A.; Tiedt, D. R.; To, W. H.; Tripathi, M.; Tvrznikova, L.; Utku, U.; Uvarov, S.; Velan, V.; Verbus, J. R.; Webb, R. C.; White, J. T.; Whitis, T. J.; Witherell, M. S.; Wolfs, F. L.  H.; Xu, J.; Yazdani, K.; Young, S. K.; Zhang, C.

doi:10.1103/physrevd.97.112002

Title: Liquid xenon scintillation measurements and pulse shape discrimination in the LUX dark matter detector

Journal Article · 11 June 2018 · Physical Review D

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.97.112002 · OSTI ID:1457784

Akerib, D. S.; Alsum, S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Beltrame, P.; Bernard, E. P.; Bernstein, A.; Biesiadzinski, T. P.; Boulton, E. M.; Brás, P.; Byram, D.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Currie, A.; Cutter, J. E.; Davison, T. J. R.; Dobi, A.; Druszkiewicz, E. more »

Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are a leading candidate for dark matter and are expected to produce nuclear recoil (NR) events within liquid xenon time-projection chambers. We present a measurement of the scintillation timing characteristics of liquid xenon in the LUX dark matter detector and develop a pulse shape discriminant to be used for particle identification. To accurately measure the timing characteristics, we develop a template-fitting method to reconstruct the detection times of photons. Analyzing calibration data collected during the 2013–2016 LUX WIMP search, we provide a new measurement of the singlet-to-triplet scintillation ratio for electron recoils (ER) below 46 keV, and we make, to our knowledge, a first-ever measurement of the NR singlet-to-triplet ratio at recoil energies below 74 keV. We exploit the difference of the photon time spectra for NR and ER events by using a prompt fraction discrimination parameter, which is optimized using calibration data to have the least number of ER events that occur in a 50% NR acceptance region. Furthermore, we then demonstrate how this discriminant can be used in conjunction with the charge-to-light discrimination to possibly improve the signal-to-noise ratio for nuclear recoils.

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Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States); Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Contributing Organization:: LUX Collaboration

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; AC02-05CH11231; AC05-06OR23100; AC52-07NA27344; FG01-91ER40618; FG02-08ER41549; FG02-11ER41738; FG02-91ER40674; FG02-91ER40688; FG02-95ER40917; NA0000979; SC0006605; SC0010010; SC0015535; PHY-0750671; PHY-0801536; PHY-1003660; PHY-1004661; PHY-1102470; PHY-1312561; PHY-1347449; PHY-1505868; PHY-1636738; RA0350; PTDC/FIS-NUC/1525/2014; LLNL-JRNL-752062; FG02- 08ER41549; FG02- 91ER40674; FG02- 95ER40917; PHY- 1312561; PHY- 1636738; IE120804; ST/K502042/1; ST/K502406/1; ST/M503538/1; SC0017891

OSTI ID:: 1457784

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1436669; OSTI ID: 1441120; OSTI ID: 1502026; OSTI ID: 1532649

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL-752062; PRVDAQ; TRN: US1901406

Journal Information:: Physical Review D, Vol. 97, Issue 11; ISSN 2470-0010

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 13 works

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