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Title: A buffer-free concept bubble chamber for PICO dark matter searches

Abstract

Here, we report on the successful operation at Drexel University of the PICO collaboration's first C3F8 buffer-free prototype fluorocarbon bubble chamber. Previous PICO bubble chambers have produced world-leading WIMP search results with fluorocarbon target fluids, separated from the steel bellows by a buffer layer of water. Surface tension effects at the jar walls and liquid-liquid interface lead to a class of background events which have nuclear-recoil-like acoustic signatures and thus contaminate the WIMP-like signal region in analysis. Thus new bubble chambers are to be constructed “right-side-up”, meaning that the jar of C3F8 is above the bellows with no water inside the inner vessel. The Drexel Bubble Chamber (DBC), runs successfully at and below the nuclear recoil thresholds used by PICO for WIMP searches, including thresholds as low as 1.19 keV . We have demonstrated sensitivity to 137Cs gammas and spontaneous fission neutrons from 244Cm, and acoustic alpha discrimination is demonstrated to be possible although the observed rate of alpha decays is very low. Position reconstruction from stereoscopic imaging allows for basic analysis cuts for calibration data. The successful construction and operation of this prototype confirm the effectiveness of the right-side-up design, which will be used in future dark matter searchesmore » such as PICO-40L and PICO-500.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
  3. Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
OSTI Identifier:
1556983
Report Number(s):
arXiv:1905.07367; FERMILAB-PUB-19-396-AE
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-0221; oai:inspirehep.net:1735411
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-07CH11359
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Instrumentation
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 14; Journal Issue: 08; 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; Dark Matter detectors; detector design and construction technologies and materials; liquid detectors; neutron detectors

Citation Formats

Bressler, M., Campion, P., Cushman, V. S., Morrese, A., Wagner, J. M., Zerbo, S., Neilson, R., Crisler, M., and Dahl, C. E. A buffer-free concept bubble chamber for PICO dark matter searches. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/14/08/P08019.
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Bressler, M., Campion, P., Cushman, V. S., Morrese, A., Wagner, J. M., Zerbo, S., Neilson, R., Crisler, M., & Dahl, C. E. A buffer-free concept bubble chamber for PICO dark matter searches. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/14/08/P08019
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Bressler, M., Campion, P., Cushman, V. S., Morrese, A., Wagner, J. M., Zerbo, S., Neilson, R., Crisler, M., and Dahl, C. E. Mon . "A buffer-free concept bubble chamber for PICO dark matter searches". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/14/08/P08019. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1556983.
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@article{osti_1556983,
title = {A buffer-free concept bubble chamber for PICO dark matter searches},
author = {Bressler, M. and Campion, P. and Cushman, V. S. and Morrese, A. and Wagner, J. M. and Zerbo, S. and Neilson, R. and Crisler, M. and Dahl, C. E.},
abstractNote = {Here, we report on the successful operation at Drexel University of the PICO collaboration's first C3F8 buffer-free prototype fluorocarbon bubble chamber. Previous PICO bubble chambers have produced world-leading WIMP search results with fluorocarbon target fluids, separated from the steel bellows by a buffer layer of water. Surface tension effects at the jar walls and liquid-liquid interface lead to a class of background events which have nuclear-recoil-like acoustic signatures and thus contaminate the WIMP-like signal region in analysis. Thus new bubble chambers are to be constructed “right-side-up”, meaning that the jar of C3F8 is above the bellows with no water inside the inner vessel. The Drexel Bubble Chamber (DBC), runs successfully at and below the nuclear recoil thresholds used by PICO for WIMP searches, including thresholds as low as 1.19 keV . We have demonstrated sensitivity to 137Cs gammas and spontaneous fission neutrons from 244Cm, and acoustic alpha discrimination is demonstrated to be possible although the observed rate of alpha decays is very low. Position reconstruction from stereoscopic imaging allows for basic analysis cuts for calibration data. The successful construction and operation of this prototype confirm the effectiveness of the right-side-up design, which will be used in future dark matter searches such as PICO-40L and PICO-500.},
doi = {10.1088/1748-0221/14/08/P08019},
journal = {Journal of Instrumentation},
number = 08,
volume = 14,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 19 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Mon Aug 19 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/14/08/P08019
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Works referenced in this record:

Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO-2L C 3 F 8 Bubble Chamber
journal, June 2015

Improved dark matter search results from PICO-2L Run 2
journal, March 2016

Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO − 60   C 3 F 8 Bubble Chamber
journal, June 2017

A Propane Bubble Chamber as a Low Level Counter for Tritium and CARBON-14
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  • Waters, J. R.; Petroff, C.; Koski, W. S.
  • IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 16, Issue 1
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journal, March 2016

First dark matter search results from a 4-kg CF 3 I bubble chamber operated in a deep underground site
journal, September 2012

Characteristics of Bubble Chambers
journal, January 1955

Dark matter search results from the complete exposure of the PICO-60 C 3 F 8 bubble chamber
journal, July 2019

Discrimination of nuclear recoils from alpha particles with superheated liquids
journal, October 2008

Detectability of certain dark-matter candidates
journal, June 1985

Some Effects of Ionizing Radiation on the Formation of Bubbles in Liquids
journal, August 1952

On the Theory of the Bubble Chamber
journal, January 1958

First Demonstration of a Scintillating Xenon Bubble Chamber for Detecting Dark Matter and Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering
journal, June 2017

Direct measurement of the bubble-nucleation energy threshold in a CF 3 I bubble chamber
journal, July 2013

Sensitivity of the PICO-500 bubble chamber to supernova neutrinos through coherent nuclear elastic scattering
journal, February 2019

Improved dark matter search results from PICO-2L Run 2
text, January 2016

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