Esteve, R., Toledo, J. F., Herrero, V., Simon, A., Monrabal, F., Alvarez, V., et al. (2021). The Event Detection System in the NEXT-White Detector. Sensors, 21(2), 673–18pp.
Abstract: This article describes the event detection system of the NEXT-White detector, a 5 kg high pressure xenon TPC with electroluminescent amplification, located in the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (LSC), Spain. The detector is based on a plane of photomultipliers (PMTs) for energy measurements and a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) tracking plane for offline topological event filtering. The event detection system, based on the SRS-ATCA data acquisition system developed in the framework of the CERN RD51 collaboration, has been designed to detect multiple events based on online PMT signal energy measurements and a coincidence-detection algorithm. Implemented on FPGA, the system has been successfully running and evolving during NEXT-White operation. The event detection system brings some relevant and new functionalities in the field. A distributed double event processor has been implemented to detect simultaneously two different types of events thus allowing simultaneous calibration and physics runs. This special feature provides constant monitoring of the detector conditions, being especially relevant to the lifetime and geometrical map computations which are needed to correct high-energy physics events. Other features, like primary scintillation event rejection, or a double buffer associated with the type of event being searched, help reduce the unnecessary data throughput thus minimizing dead time and improving trigger efficiency.
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Alvarez, V., Herrero-Bosch, V., Esteve, R., Laing, A., Rodriguez, J., Querol, M., et al. (2019). The electronics of the energy plane of the NEXT-White detector. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 917, 68–76.
Abstract: This paper describes the electronics of NEXT-White (NEW) detector PMT plane, a high pressure xenon TPC with electroluminescent amplification (HPXe-EL) currently operating at the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (LSC) in Huesca, Spain. In NEXT-White the energy of the event is measured by a plane of photomultipliers (PMTs) located behind a transparent cathode. The PMTs are Hamamatsu R11410-10 chosen due to their low radioactivity. The electronics have been designed and implemented to fulfill strict requirements: an overall energy resolution below 1% and a radiopurity budget of 20 mBq unit(-1) in the chain of Bi-214. All the components and materials have been carefully screened to assure a low radioactivity level and at the same time meet the required front-end electronics specifications. In order to reduce low frequency noise effects and enhance detector safety a grounded cathode connection has been used for the PMTs. This implies an AC-coupled readout and baseline variations in the PMT signals. A detailed description of the electronics and a novel approach based on a digital baseline restoration to obtain a linear response and handle AC coupling effects is presented. The final PMT channel design has been characterized with linearity better than 0.4% and noise below 0.4 mV.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo, F. L., Castillo Gimenez, V., et al. (2020). Search for t(t)over-bar resonances in fully hadronic final states in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 061–43pp.
Abstract: This paper presents a search for new heavy particles decaying into a pair of top quarks using 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search is performed using events consistent with pair production of high-transverse-momentum top quarks and their subsequent decays into the fully hadronic final states. The analysis is optimized for resonances decaying into a t (t) over bar pair with mass above 1.4TeV, exploiting a dedicated multivariate technique with jet substructure to identify hadronically decaying top quarks using large-radius jets and evaluating the background expectation from data. No significant deviation from the background prediction is observed. Limits are set on the production cross-section times branching fraction for the new Z' boson in a topcolor-assisted-technicolor model. The Z0 boson masses below 3.9 and 4.7TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for the decay widths of 1% and 3%, respectively.
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NEXT Collaboration(Trindade, A. M. F. et al), Alvarez, V., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Botas, A., Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., et al. (2018). Study of the loss of xenon scintillation in xenon-trimethylamine mixtures. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 905, 22–28.
Abstract: This work investigates the capability of TMA ((CH3)(3)N) molecules to shift the wavelength of Xe VUV emission (160-188 nm) to a longer, more manageable, wavelength (260-350 nm). Light emitted from a Xe lamp was passed through a gas chamber filled with Xe-TMA mixtures at 800 Torr and detected with a photomultiplier tube. Using bandpass filters in the proper transmission ranges, no reemitted light was observed experimentally. Considering the detection limit of the experimental system, if reemission by TMA molecules occurs, it is below 0.3% of the scintillation absorbed in the 160-188 nm range. An absorption coefficient value for xenon VUV light by TMA of 0.43 +/- 0.03 cm(-1) Torr(-1) was also obtained. These results can be especially important for experiments considering TMA as a molecular additive to Xe in large volume optical time projection chambers.
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Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., & Ferrario, P. (2016). Application of scintillating properties of liquid xenon and silicon photomultiplier technology to medical imaging. Spectroc. Acta Pt. B, 118, 6–13.
Abstract: We describe a new positron emission time-of-flight apparatus using liquid xenon. The detector is based in a liquid xenon scintillating cell. The cell shape and dimensions can be optimized depending on the intended application. In its simplest form, the liquid xenon scintillating cell is a box in which two faces are covered by silicon photomultipliers and the others by a reflecting material such as Teflon. It is a compact, homogenous and highly efficient detector which shares many of the desirable properties of monolithic crystals, with the added advantage of high yield and fast scintillation offered by liquid xenon. Our initial studies suggest that good energy and spatial resolution comparable with that achieved by lutetium oxyorthosilicate crystals can be obtained with a detector based in liquid xenon scintillating cells. In addition, the system can potentially achieve an excellent coincidence resolving time of better than 100 ps.
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