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NEXT Collaboration(Fernandes, A. F. M. et al), Alvarez, V., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., Diaz, J., et al. (2020). Low-diffusion Xe-He gas mixtures for rare-event detection: electroluminescence yield. J. High Energy Phys., 04(4), 034–18pp.
Abstract: High pressure xenon Time Projection Chambers (TPC) based on secondary scintillation (electroluminescence) signal amplification are being proposed for rare event detection such as directional dark matter, double electron capture and double beta decay detection. The discrimination of the rare event through the topological signature of primary ionisation trails is a major asset for this type of TPC when compared to single liquid or double-phase TPCs, limited mainly by the high electron diffusion in pure xenon. Helium admixtures with xenon can be an attractive solution to reduce the electron diffu- sion significantly, improving the discrimination efficiency of these optical TPCs. We have measured the electroluminescence (EL) yield of Xe-He mixtures, in the range of 0 to 30% He and demonstrated the small impact on the EL yield of the addition of helium to pure xenon. For a typical reduced electric field of 2.5 kV/cm/bar in the EL region, the EL yield is lowered by similar to 2%, 3%, 6% and 10% for 10%, 15%, 20% and 30% of helium concentration, respectively. This decrease is less than what has been obtained from the most recent simulation framework in the literature. The impact of the addition of helium on EL statistical fluctuations is negligible, within the experimental uncertainties. The present results are an important benchmark for the simulation tools to be applied to future optical TPCs based on Xe-He mixtures.
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Fernandes, L. M. P., Freitas, E. D. C., Ball, M., Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Monteiro, C. M. B., Yahlali, N., et al. (2010). Primary and secondary scintillation measurements in a Xenon Gas Proportional Scintillation Counter. J. Instrum., 5, P09006–15pp.
Abstract: NEXT is a new experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay using a 100 kg radio-pure high-pressure gaseous xenon TPC. The detector requires excellent energy resolution, which can be achieved in a Xe TPC with electroluminescence readout. Hamamatsu R8520-06SEL photomultipliers are good candidates for the scintillation readout. The performance of this photomultiplier, used as VUV photosensor in a gas proportional scintillation counter, was investigated. Initial results for the detection of primary and secondary scintillation produced as a result of the interaction of 5.9 keV X-rays in gaseous xenon, at room temperature and at pressures up to 3 bar, are presented. An energy resolution of 8.0% was obtained for secondary scintillation produced by 5.9 keV X-rays. No significant variation of the primary scintillation was observed for different pressures (1, 2 and 3 bar) and for electric fields up to 0.8 V cm(-1) torr(-1) in the drift region, demonstrating negligible recombination luminescence. A primary scintillation yield of 81 +/- 7 photons was obtained for 5.9 keV X-rays, corresponding to a mean energy of 72 +/- 6 eV to produce a primary scintillation photon in xenon.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Abat, E. et al), Bernabeu Verdu, J., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Escobar, C., Ferrer, A., et al. (2011). A layer correlation technique for pion energy calibration at the 2004 ATLAS Combined Beam Test. J. Instrum., 6, P06001–35pp.
Abstract: A new method for calibrating the hadron response of a segmented calorimeter is developed and successfully applied to beam test data. It is based on a principal component analysis of energy deposits in the calorimeter layers, exploiting longitudinal shower development information to improve the measured energy resolution. Corrections for invisible hadronic energy and energy lost in dead material in front of and between the calorimeters of the ATLAS experiment were calculated with simulated Geant4 Monte Carlo events and used to reconstruct the energy of pions impinging on the calorimeters during the 2004 Barrel Combined Beam Test at the CERN H8 area. For pion beams with energies between 20 GeV and 180 GeV, the particle energy is reconstructed within 3% and the energy resolution is improved by between 11% and 25% compared to the resolution at the electromagnetic scale.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Albert, A. et al), Alves, S., Calvo, D., Carretero, V., Gozzini, R., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., et al. (2022). Search for secluded dark matter towards the Galactic Centre with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 06(6), 028–20pp.
Abstract: Searches for dark matter (DM) have not provided any solid evidence for the existence of weakly interacting massive particles in the GeV-TeV mass range. Coincidentally, the scale of new physics is being pushed by collider searches well beyond the TeV domain. This situation strongly motivates the exploration of DM masses much larger than a TeV. Secluded scenarios contain a natural way around the unitarity bound on the DM mass, via the early matter domination induced by the mediator of its interactions with the Standard Model. High-energy neutrinos constitute one of the very few direct accesses to energy scales above a few TeV. An indirect search for secluded DM signals has been performed with the ANTARES neutrino telescope using data from 2007 to 2015. Upper limits on the DM annihilation cross section for DM masses up to 6 PeV are presented and discussed.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Jaimes Elles, S. J., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Rebollo De Miguel, M., et al. (2023). Study of exclusive photoproduction of charmonium in ultra-peripheral lead-lead collisions. J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 146–25pp.
Abstract: The cross-sections of exclusive (coherent) photoproduction J/psi and (2S) mesons in ultra-peripheral PbPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02TeV are measured using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 228 +/- 10 μb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment in 2018. The differential cross-sections are measured separately as a function of transverse momentum and rapidity in the nucleus-nucleus centre-of-mass frame for J/psi and psi(2S) mesons. The integrated cross-sections are measured to be sigma(coh)(J/psi) = 5.965 +/- 0.059 +/- 0.232 +/- 0.262mb and sigma(coh)(psi(2S)) = 0.923 +/- 0.086 +/- 0.028 +/- 0.040mb, where the first listed uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third due to the luminosity determination. The cross-section ratio is measured to be sigma(coh)(psi(2S)) /sigma(coh)(J/psi) = 0.155 +/- 0.014 +/- 0.003, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. These results are compatible with theoretical predictions.
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