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NEXT Collaboration(Ferrario, P. et al), Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Kekic, M., Renner, J., Uson, A., Alvarez, V., et al. (2019). Demonstration of the event identification capabilities of the NEXT-White detector. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 052–20pp.
Abstract: In experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay, the possibility of identifying the two emitted electrons is a powerful tool in rejecting background events and therefore improving the overall sensitivity of the experiment. In this paper we present the first measurement of the efficiency of a cut based on the different event signatures of double and single electron tracks, using the data of the NEXT-White detector, the first detector of the NEXT experiment operating underground. Using a Th-228 calibration source to produce signal-like and background-like events with energies near 1.6 MeV, a signal efficiency of 71.6 +/- 1.5(stat) +/- 0.3(sys) % for a background acceptance of 20.6 +/- 0.4(stat) +/- 0.3(sys)% is found, in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations. An extrapolation to the energy region of the neutrinoless double beta decay by means of Monte Carlo simulations is also carried out, and the results obtained show an improvement in background rejection over those obtained at lower energies.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Antonova, M., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Fernandez, P., Izmaylov, A., & Novella, P. (2019). Search for neutral-current induced single photon production at the ND280 near detector in T2K. J. Phys. G, 46(8), 08LT01–16pp.
Abstract: Neutrino neutral-current (NC) induced single photon production is a sub-leading order process for accelerator-based neutrino beam experiments including T2K. It is, however, an important process to understand because it is a background for electron (anti)neutrino appearance oscillation experiments. Here, we performed the first search of this process below 1 GeV using the fine-grained detector at the T2K ND280 off-axis near detector. By reconstructing single photon kinematics from electron-positron pairs, we achieved 95% pure gamma ray sample from 5.738 x 10(20) protons-on-targets neutrino mode data. We do not find positive evidence of NC induced single photon production in this sample. We set the model-dependent upper limit on the cross-section for this process, at 0.114 x 10(-38) cm(2) (90% C.L.) per nucleon, using the J-PARC off-axis neutrino beam with an average energy of < E-v > similar to 0.6 GeV. This is the first limit on this process below 1 GeV which is important for current and future oscillation experiments looking for electron neutrino appearance oscillation signals.
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NEXT Collaboration(Azevedo, C. D. R. et al), Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Alvarez, V., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Botas, A., Carcel, S., et al. (2018). Microscopic simulation of xenon-based optical TPCs in the presence of molecular additives. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 877, 157–172.
Abstract: We introduce a simulation framework for the transport of high and low energy electrons in xenon-based optical time projection chambers (OTPCs). The simulation relies on elementary cross sections (electron-atom and electron-molecule) and incorporates, in order to compute the gas scintillation, the reaction/quenching rates (atom-atom and atom-molecule) of the first 41 excited states of xenon and the relevant associated excimers, together with their radiative cascade. The results compare positively with observations made in pure xenon and its mixtures with CO2 and CF4 in a range of pressures from 0.1 to 10 bar. This work sheds some light on the elementary processes responsible for the primary and secondary xenon-scintillation mechanisms in the presence of additives, that are of interest to the OTPC technology.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Izmaylov, A., & Novella, P. (2018). First measurement of the nu(mu) charged-current cross section on a water target without pions in the final state. Phys. Rev. D, 97(1), 012001–16pp.
Abstract: This paper reports the first differential measurement of the charged-current interaction cross section of nu(mu) on water with no pions in the final state. This flux-averaged measurement has been made using the T2K experiment's off-axis near detector, and is reported in doubly differential bins of muon momentum and angle. The flux-averaged total cross section in a restricted region of phase space was found to be sigma = (0.95 +/- 0.08(stat) +/- 0.06(det syst) +/- 0.04(model syst) +/- 0.08(flux)) x 10(-38) cm(2)/n.
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Double Chooz collaboration(Abrahao, T. et al), & Novella, P. (2018). Novel event classification based on spectral analysis of scintillation waveforms in Double Chooz. J. Instrum., 13, P01031–26pp.
Abstract: Liquid scintillators are a common choice for neutrino physics experiments, but their capabilities to perform background rejection by scintillation pulse shape discrimination is generally limited in large detectors. This paper describes a novel approach for a pulse shape based event classification developed in the context of the Double Chooz reactor antineutrino experiment. Unlike previous implementations, this method uses the Fourier power spectra of the scintillation pulse shapes to obtain event-wise information. A classification variable built from spectral information was able to achieve an unprecedented performance, despite the lack of optimization at the detector design level. Several examples of event classification are provided, ranging from differentiation between the detector volumes and an efficient rejection of instrumental light noise, to some sensitivity to the particle type, such as stopping muons, ortho-positronium formation, alpha particles as well as electrons and positrons. In combination with other techniques the method is expected to allow for a versatile and more efficient background rejection in the future, especially if detector optimization is taken into account at the design level.
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