Low-diffusion Xe-He gas mixtures for rare-event detection: electroluminescence yield

Fernandes, Alexandra; Henriques, C. A. O.; Mano, R.D.P.; González-Díaz, D.; Azevedo, C.D.R.; Silva, P.A.O.C.; Gómez-Cadenas, J.J.; Freitas, E.D.C.; Fernandes, L. M. P.; Monteiro, C. M. B.; Adams, C.; Álvarez-Puerta, Vicente; Arazi, L.; Arnquist, I. J.; Bailey, K.; Ballester-Merelo, Francisco José; Bosch, Raúl Esteve; Bosch, Vicente; Más, Francisco J.; Rodriguez-Samaniego, Javier; Alarcón, José Francisco Toledo

doi:10.1007/jhep04(2020)034

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…In addition, RL deconvolution can be further developed to a full 3D method instead of following the slice-by-slice approach employed in this work, which could lead to enhanced image quality along the drift direction. Lastly, image quality may greatly benefit from the use of low-diffusion gas mixtures, such as Xe-He [44][45][46], or Xe "spiked" with low concentrations of molecular additives [47][48][49].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boosting background suppression in the NEXT experiment through Richardson-Lucy deconvolution

Simón,

Ifergan,

Redwine

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Next-generation neutrinoless double beta decay experiments aim for halflife sensitivities of ∼ 10 27 years, requiring suppressing backgrounds to a level of < 1 count/tonne/year. To reach those levels any extra background rejection handle, in addition to excellent energy resolution and the use of extremely radiopure materials, is of utter importance. The NEXT experiment exploits differences in the spatial ionization patterns of double beta decay and single-electron events to discriminate signal from background. While the former display two Bragg peak dense ionization regions at the opposite ends of the track, the latter typically have only one such feature. Thus, comparing the energies at the track extremes provides an additional rejection tool. The unique combination of the topology-based background discrimination and excellent energy resolution (1% FWHM at the Q-value of the decay) is the distinguishing feature of the NEXT experiment. Previous studies demonstrated a topological background rejection factor of ∼ 5 when reconstructing electron-positron pairs in the 208 Tl 1.6 MeV double escape peak (with Compton events as background), recorded in the NEXT-White demonstrator at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc, while retaining ∼ 72% of the signal. These results were recently improved through the use of a deep convolutional neural network to yield a background rejection factor of ∼ 10 with 65% signal efficiency. Here, we present a new reconstruction method, based on the Richardson-Lucy deconvolution algorithm, which allows reversing the blurring induced by electron diffusion and electroluminescence light production in the NEXT time projection chamber. The new method yields highly refined 3D images of reconstructed events, and, as a result, significantly improves the topological background discrimination. When applied to real-data 1.6 MeV electron-positron pairs (at this stage without using deep neural networks), it leads to a background rejection factor of 27 at 57% signal efficiency.C Examples of successful RL-based classification vs. failure of the classical analysis 31

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boosting background suppression in the NEXT experiment through Richardson-Lucy deconvolution

Simón,

Ifergan,

Redwine

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…In this study we consider as well the addition of either helium or a molecular gas (e.g., CH 4 or CF 4 ) to the xenon to reduce diffusion and improve tracking resolution [37][38][39][40].…”

Section: Jhep08(2021)164mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity of a tonne-scale NEXT detector for neutrinoless double-beta decay searches

Adams

Álvarez²,

Arazi³

et al. 2021

J. High Energ. Phys.

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The Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC (NEXT) searches for the neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay of 136Xe using high-pressure xenon gas TPCs with electroluminescent amplification. A scaled-up version of this technology with about 1 tonne of enriched xenon could reach in less than 5 years of operation a sensitivity to the half-life of 0νββ decay better than 1027 years, improving the current limits by at least one order of magnitude. This prediction is based on a well-understood background model dominated by radiogenic sources. The detector concept presented here represents a first step on a compelling path towards sensitivity to the parameter space defined by the inverted ordering of neutrino masses, and beyond.

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“…In addition, RL deconvolution can be further developed to a full 3D method instead of following the slice-by-slice approach employed in this work, which could lead to enhanced image quality along the drift direction. Lastly, image quality may greatly benefit from the use of low-diffusion gas mixtures, such as Xe-He [45][46][47], or Xe "spiked" with low concentrations of molecular additives [48][49][50].…”

Section: Jhep07(2021)146mentioning

confidence: 99%

Boosting background suppression in the NEXT experiment through Richardson-Lucy deconvolution

Simón¹,

Ifergan²,

Redwine³

et al. 2021

J. High Energ. Phys.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Next-generation neutrinoless double beta decay experiments aim for half-life sensitivities of ∼ 1027 yr, requiring suppressing backgrounds to < 1 count/tonne/yr. For this, any extra background rejection handle, beyond excellent energy resolution and the use of extremely radiopure materials, is of utmost importance. The NEXT experiment exploits differences in the spatial ionization patterns of double beta decay and single-electron events to discriminate signal from background. While the former display two Bragg peak dense ionization regions at the opposite ends of the track, the latter typically have only one such feature. Thus, comparing the energies at the track extremes provides an additional rejection tool. The unique combination of the topology-based background discrimination and excellent energy resolution (1% FWHM at the Q-value of the decay) is the distinguishing feature of NEXT. Previous studies demonstrated a topological background rejection factor of ∼ 5 when reconstructing electron-positron pairs in the 208Tl 1.6 MeV double escape peak (with Compton events as background), recorded in the NEXT-White demonstrator at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc, with 72% signal efficiency. This was recently improved through the use of a deep convolutional neural network to yield a background rejection factor of ∼ 10 with 65% signal efficiency. Here, we present a new reconstruction method, based on the Richardson-Lucy deconvolution algorithm, which allows reversing the blurring induced by electron diffusion and electroluminescence light production in the NEXT TPC. The new method yields highly refined 3D images of reconstructed events, and, as a result, significantly improves the topological background discrimination. When applied to real-data 1.6 MeV e−e+ pairs, it leads to a background rejection factor of 27 at 57% signal efficiency.

show abstract

Low-diffusion Xe-He gas mixtures for rare-event detection: electroluminescence yield

Abstract: Contents 1 Introduction 1 2 Experimental setup 4 3 Method 5 4 Experimental results and discussion 6 5 Conclusions 12

Cited by 9 publications

References 40 publications

Boosting background suppression in the NEXT experiment through Richardson-Lucy deconvolution

Boosting background suppression in the NEXT experiment through Richardson-Lucy deconvolution

Sensitivity of a tonne-scale NEXT detector for neutrinoless double-beta decay searches

Boosting background suppression in the NEXT experiment through Richardson-Lucy deconvolution

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