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

Journal Article · 19 March 2024 · Physical Review. D.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.109.052007 · OSTI ID:1989886

Abratenko, P. ^[1]; Alterkait, O.; Andrade Aldana, D.; Arellano, L.; Asaadi, J.; Ashkenazi, A.; Balasubramanian, S.; Baller, B.; Barr, G.; Barrow, D.; Barrow, J.; Basque, V.; Benevides Rodrigues, O.; Berkman, S.; Bhanderi, A.; Bhat, A.; Bhattacharya, M.; Bishai, M.; Blake, A.; Bogart, B. ; Bolton, T.; Book, J.  Y.; Camilleri, L.; Cao, Y.; Caratelli, D.; Caro Terrazas, I.; Cavanna, F.; Cerati, G.; Chen, Y.; Conrad, J.  M.; Convery, M.; Cooper-Troendle, L.; Crespo-Anadón, J.  I.; Cross, R.; Del Tutto, M.; Dennis, S.  R.; Detje, P.; Devitt, A.; Diurba, R.; Djurcic, Z.; Dorrill, R.; Duffy, K.; Dytman, S.; Eberly, B.; Englezos, P.; Ereditato, A.; Evans, J.  J.; Fine, R.; Finnerud, O.  G.; Foreman, W. ; Fleming, B.  T.; Foppiani, N.; Franco, D.; Furmanski, A.  P.; Garcia-Gamez, D.; Gardiner, S.; Ge, G.; Gollapinni, S.; Goodwin, O.; Gramellini, E.; Green, P.; Greenlee, H.; Gu, W.; Guenette, R.; Guzowski, P.; Hagaman, L.; Hen, O.; Hicks, R.; Hilgenberg, C.; Horton-Smith, G.  A.; Imani, Z.; Irwin, B.; Itay, R.; James, C.; Ji, X.; Jiang, L.; Jo, J.  H.; Johnson, R.  A.; Jwa, Y. -J.; Kalra, D.; Kamp, N.; Karagiorgi, G.; Ketchum, W.; Kirby, M.; Kobilarcik, T.; Kreslo, I.; Leibovitch, M.  B.; Lepetic, I.; Li, J. -Y.; Li, K.; Li, Y.; Lin, K.; Littlejohn, B.  R.; Liu, H.; Louis, W.  C.; Luo, X.; Mariani, C.; Marsden, D.; Marshall, J.; Martinez, N.; Martinez Caicedo, D.  A.; Martynenko, S.; Mastbaum, A.; McConkey, N.; Meddage, V.; Micallef, J.; Miller, K.; Mogan, A.; Mohayai, T.; Mooney, M.; Moor, A.  F.; Moore, C.  D.; Mora Lepin, L.; Moudgalya, M.  M.; Mulleriababu, S.; Naples, D.; Navrer-Agasson, A.; Nayak, N.; Nebot-Guinot, M.; Nowak, J.; Oza, N.; Palamara, O.; Pallat, N.; Paolone, V.; Papadopoulou, A.; Papavassiliou, V.; Parkinson, H.  B.; Pate, S.  F.; Patel, N.; Pavlovic, Z.; Piasetzky, E.; Ponce-Pinto, I.  D.; Pophale, I.; Qian, X.; Raaf, J.  L.; Radeka, V.; Rafique, A.; Reggiani-Guzzo, M.; Ren, L.; Rochester, L.; Rodriguez Rondon, J.; Rosenberg, M.; Ross-Lonergan, M.; Rudolf von Rohr, C.; Safa, I.; Scanavini, G.; Schmitz, D.  W.; Schukraft, A.; Seligman, W.; Shaevitz, M.  H.; Sharankova, R.; Shi, J.; Snider, E.  L.; Soderberg, M.; Söldner-Rembold, S.; Spitz, J.; Stancari, M.; St. John, J.; Strauss, T.; Szelc, A.  M.; Tang, W.; Taniuchi, N.; Terao, K.; Thorpe, C.; Torbunov, D.; Totani, D.; Toups, M.; Tsai, Y. -T.; Tyler, J.; Uchida, M.  A.; Usher, T.; Viren, B.; Weber, M.; Wei, H.; White, A.  J.; Wolbers, S.; Wongjirad, T.; Wospakrik, M.; Wresilo, K.; Wright, N.; Wu, W.; Yandel, E.; Yang, T.; Yates, L.  E.; Yu, H.  W.; Zeller, G.  P.; Zennamo, J.; Zhang, C.

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1. Tufts University, Medford, MA (United States); MicroBooNE Collaboration. et al.

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 ²¹⁴Bi-²¹⁴Po 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 ²¹⁴Bi-²¹⁴Po detection algorithms to data recorded over a 46-day period, no statistically significant presence of radioactive ²¹⁴Bi is detected, and a limit on the activity is placed at <0.35 mBq/kg at the 95% confidence level. This bulk ²¹⁴Bi 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 ²²²Rn activity for the DUNE neutrino detector.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
• Contributing Organization: MicroBooNE Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 1989886
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 2326092; OSTI ID: 2348859; OSTI ID: 2440538; OSTI ID: 2567133
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB--23-352-ND; arXiv:2307.03102; oai:inspirehep.net:2674763
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D., Journal Name: Physical Review. D. Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 109; ISSN 2470-0010
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English