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Andricek, L., Boronat, M., Fuster, J., Garcia, I., Gomis, P., Marinas, C., et al. (2016). Integrated cooling channels in position-sensitive silicon detectors. J. Instrum., 11, P06018–15pp.
Abstract: We present an approach to construct position-sensitive silicon detectors with an integrated cooling circuit. Tests on samples demonstrate that a very modest liquid flow very effectively cool the devices up to a power dissipation of over 10 W/cm(2). The liquid flow is found to have a negligible impact on the mechanical stability. A finite-element simulation predicts the cooling performance to an accuracy of approximately 10%.
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Double Chooz collaboration(Abe, Y. et al), & Novella, P. (2016). Characterization of the spontaneous light emission of the PMTs used in the Double Chooz experiment. J. Instrum., 11, P08001–25pp.
Abstract: During the commissioning of the first of the two detectors of the Double Chooz experiment, an unexpected and dominant background caused by the emission of light inside the optical volume has been observed. A specific study of the ensemble of phenomena called Light Noise has been carried out in-situ, and in an external laboratory, in order to characterize the signals and to identify the possible processes underlying the effect. Some mechanisms of instrumental noise originating from the PMTs were identified and it has been found that the leading one arises from the light emission localized on the photomultiplier base and produced by the combined effect of heat and high voltage across the transparent epoxy resin covering the electric components. The correlation of the rate and the amplitude of the signal with the temperature has been observed. For the first detector in operation the induced background has been mitigated using online and offline analysis selections based on timing and light pattern of the signals, while a modification of the photomultiplier assembly has been implemented for the second detector in order to blacken the PMT bases.
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Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Ferrario, P., Monrabal, F., Rodriguez, J., & Toledo, J. F. (2016). Investigation of the coincidence resolving time performance of a PET scanner based on liquid xenon: a Monte Carlo study. J. Instrum., 11, P09011–18pp.
Abstract: The measurement of the time of flight of the two 511 keV gammas recorded in coincidence in a PET scanner provides an effective way of reducing the random background and therefore increases the scanner sensitivity, provided that the coincidence resolving time (CRT) of the gammas is sufficiently good. The best commercial PET-TOF system today (based in LYSO crystals and digital SiPMs), is the VEREOS of Philips, boasting a CRT of 316 ps (FWHM). In this paper we present a Monte Carlo investigation of the CRT performance of a PET scanner exploiting the scintillating properties of liquid xenon. We find that an excellent CRT of 70 ps (depending on the PDE of the sensor) can be obtained if the scanner is instrumented with silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) sensitive to the ultraviolet light emitted by xenon. Alternatively, a CRT of 160 ps can be obtained instrumenting the scanner with (much cheaper) blue-sensitive SiPMs coated with a suitable wavelength shifter. These results show the excellent time of flight capabilities of a PET device based in liquid xenon.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2016). Beam-induced and cosmic-ray backgrounds observed in the ATLAS detector during the LHC 2012 proton-proton running period. J. Instrum., 11, P05013–78pp.
Abstract: This paper discusses various observations on beam-induced and cosmic-ray backgrounds in the ATLAS detector during the LHC 2012 proton-proton run. Building on published results based on 2011 data, the correlations between background and residual pressure of the beam vacuum are revisited. Ghost charge evolution over 2012 and its role for backgrounds are evaluated. New methods to monitor ghost charge with beam-gas rates are presented and observations of LHC abort gap population by ghost charge are discussed in detail. Fake jets from colliding bunches and from ghost charge are analysed with improved methods, showing that ghost charge in individual radio-frequency buckets of the LHC can be resolved. Some results of two short periods of dedicated cosmic-ray background data-taking are shown; in particular cosmic-ray muon induced fake jet rates are compared to Monte Carlo simulations and to the fake jet rates from beam background. A thorough analysis of a particular LHC fill, where abnormally high background was observed, is presented. Correlations between backgrounds and beam intensity losses in special fills with very high beta* are studied.
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Poley, L. et al, Lacasta, C., & Soldevila, U. (2016). Characterisation of strip silicon detectors for the ATLAS Phase-II Upgrade with a micro-focused X-ray beam. J. Instrum., 11, P07023–12pp.
Abstract: The planned HL-LHC (High Luminosity LHC) in 2025 is being designed to maximise the physics potential through a sizable increase in the luminosity up to 6.10(34) cm(-2) s(-1). A consequence of this increased luminosity is the expected radiation damage at 3000 fb(-1) after ten years of operation, requiring the tracking detectors to withstand fluences to over 1.10(16) 1 MeV n(eq)/cm(2) . In order to cope with the consequent increased readout rates, a complete re-design of the current ATLAS Inner Detector (ID) is being developed as the Inner Tracker (ITk). Two proposed detectors for the ATLAS strip tracker region of the ITk were characterized at the Diamond Light Source with a 3 μm FWHM 15 keV micro focused X-ray beam. The devices under test were a 320 μm thick silicon stereo (Barrel) ATLAS12 strip mini sensor wire bonded to a 130 nm CMOS binary readout chip (ABC130) and a 320 μm thick full size radial (end-cap) strip sensor – utilizing bi-metal readout layers – wire bonded to 250 nm CMOS binary readout chips (ABCN-25). A resolution better than the inter strip pitch of the 74.5 μm strips was achieved for both detectors. The effect of the p-stop diffusion layers between strips was investigated in detail for the wire bond pad regions. Inter strip charge collection measurements indicate that the effective width of the strip on the silicon sensors is determined by p-stop regions between the strips rather than the strip pitch.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Bou-Cabo, M., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Sanchez-Losa, A., Tönnis, C., et al. (2016). A search for Secluded Dark Matter in the Sun with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 016–13pp.
Abstract: A search for Secluded Dark Matter annihilation in the Sun using 2007-2012 data of the ANTARES neutrino telescope is presented. Three different cases are considered: a) detection of dimuons that result from the decay of the mediator, or neutrino detection from: b) mediator that decays into a dimuon and, in turn, into neutrinos, and c) mediator that decays directly into neutrinos. As no significant excess over background is observed, constraints are derived on the dark matter mass and the lifetime of the mediator.
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Double Chooz collaboration(Abe, Y. et al), & Novella, P. (2016). Measurement of theta(13) in Double Chooz using neutron captures on hydrogen with novel background rejection techniques. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 163–29pp.
Abstract: The Double Chooz collaboration presents a measurement of the neutrino mixing angle theta(13) using reactor (nu) over bar (e) observed via the inverse beta decay reaction in which the neutron is captured on hydrogen. This measurement is based on 462.72 live days data, approximately twice as much data as in the previous such analysis, collected with a detector positioned at an average distance of 1050m from two reactor cores. Several novel techniques have been developed to achieve significant reductions of the backgrounds and systematic uncertainties. Accidental coincidences, the dominant background in this analysis, are suppressed by more than an order of magnitude with respect to our previous publication by a multi-variate analysis. These improvements demonstrate the capability of precise measurement of reactor (nu) over bar (e) without gadolinium loading. Spectral distortions from the (nu) over bar (e) reactor flux predictions previously reported with the neutron capture on gadolinium events are confirmed in the independent data sample presented here. A value of sin(2) 2 theta(13) = 0.095(0.039)(+0.039)(stat+syst) is obtained from a fit to the observed event rate as a function of the reactor power, a method insensitive to the energy spectrum shape. A simultaneous fit of the hydrogen capture events and of the gadolinium capture events yields a measurement of sin(2) 2 theta(13) = 0.088 +/- 0.033(stat+syst).
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Magan, D. L. P., Caballero, L., Domingo-Pardo, C., Agramunt-Ros, J., Albiol, F., Casanovas, A., et al. (2016). First tests of the applicability of gamma-ray imaging for background discrimination in time-of-flight neutron capture measurements. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 823, 107–119.
Abstract: In this work we explore for the first time the applicability of using gamma-ray imaging in neutron capture measurements to identify and suppress spatially localized background. For this aim, a pinhole gamma camera is assembled, tested and characterized in terms of energy and spatial performance. It consists of a monolithic CeBr3 scintillating crystal coupled to a position-sensitive photomultiplier and readout through an integrated circuit AMIC2GR. The pinhole collimator is a massive carven block of lead. A series of dedicated measurements with calibrated sources and with a neutron beam incident on a Au-197 sample have been carried out at n_TOF, achieving an enhancement of a factor of two in the signal-to-background ratio when selecting only those events coming from the direction of the sample.
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Renner, J., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Hernando, J. A., Izmaylov, A., Monrabal, F., Muñoz, J., et al. (2015). Improved background rejection in neutrinoless double beta decay experiments using a magnetic field in a high pressure xenon TPC. J. Instrum., 10, P12020–19pp.
Abstract: We demonstrate that the application of an external magnetic field could lead to an improved background rejection in neutrinoless double-beta (0 nu beta beta) decay experiments using a high-pressure xenon (HPXe) TPC. HPXe chambers are capable of imaging electron tracks, a feature that enhances the separation between signal events (the two electrons emitted in the 0 nu beta beta decay of Xe-136) and background events, arising chiefly from single electrons of kinetic energy compatible with the end-point of the 0 nu beta beta decay (Q(beta beta)). Applying an external magnetic field of sufficiently high intensity (in the range of 0.5-1 Tesla for operating pressures in the range of 5-15 atmospheres) causes the electrons to produce helical tracks. Assuming the tracks can be properly reconstructed, the sign of the curvature can be determined at several points along these tracks, and such information can be used to separate signal (0 nu beta beta) events containing two electrons producing a track with two different directions of curvature from background (single-electron) events producing a track that should spiral in a single direction. Due to electron multiple scattering, this strategy is not perfectly efficient on an event-by-event basis, but a statistical estimator can be constructed which can be used to reject background events by one order of magnitude at a moderate cost (about 30%) in signal efficiency. Combining this estimator with the excellent energy resolution and topological signature identification characteristic of the HPXe TPC, it is possible to reach a background rate of less than one count per ton-year of exposure. Such a low background rate is an essential feature of the next generation of 0 nu beta beta experiments, aiming to fully explore the inverse hierarchy of neutrino masses.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2015). B flavour tagging using charm decays at the LHCb experiment. J. Instrum., 10, P10005–16pp.
Abstract: An algorithm is described for tagging the flavour content at production of neutral B mesons in the LHCb experiment. The algorithm exploits the correlation of the flavour of a B meson with the charge of a reconstructed secondary charm hadron from the decay of the other b hadron produced in the proton-proton collision. Charm hadron candidates are identified in a number of fully or partially reconstructed Cabibbo-favoured decay modes. The algorithm is calibrated on the self-tagged decay modes B+ -> J/psi K+ and B-0 -> J/psi K*(0) using 3.0fb(-1) of data collected by the LHCb experiment at pp centre-of-mass energies of 7TeV and 8TeV. Its tagging power on these samples of B -> J/psi X decays is (0.30 +/- 0.01 +/- 0.01) %.
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