TY - UNPB

T1 - A Measurement of the Attenuation of Drifting Electrons in the MicroBooNE LArTPC

AU - MicroBooNE Collaboration

AU - Nowak, Jaroslaw

PY - 2017/8/30

Y1 - 2017/8/30

N2 - MicroBooNE, an 85-ton active mass liquid-argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) detector located on the Fermilab’s Booster Neutrino Beamline (BNB), is designed to both probe neutrino physics phenomena and further develop the LArTPC detector technology. MicroBooNE, the largest currently operating LArTPC detector in the world, began collecting data in fall 2015. The exceptional imaging capabilities of LArTPCs allow unprecedented study of neutrino interactions. A fundamental requirement for the performance of such detectors is to maintain electronegative contaminants such as oxygen and water at extremely low concentrations, which otherwise can capture the ionization electrons. This note presents a first measurement of the electron attenuation as a function of drift time, using cosmic ray muon data collected by MicroBooNE. The observed electron attenuation indicates that during stable purity period, the lowest electron drift-lifetime observed is 18.0 ms which corresponds to a charge loss of 12% over the full drift distance at an electric field of 0.273 kV/cm and an O2 equivalent contamination of 17 ppt. This is an indication that the argon purification and recirculation system of MicroBooNE is performing successfully.

AB - MicroBooNE, an 85-ton active mass liquid-argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) detector located on the Fermilab’s Booster Neutrino Beamline (BNB), is designed to both probe neutrino physics phenomena and further develop the LArTPC detector technology. MicroBooNE, the largest currently operating LArTPC detector in the world, began collecting data in fall 2015. The exceptional imaging capabilities of LArTPCs allow unprecedented study of neutrino interactions. A fundamental requirement for the performance of such detectors is to maintain electronegative contaminants such as oxygen and water at extremely low concentrations, which otherwise can capture the ionization electrons. This note presents a first measurement of the electron attenuation as a function of drift time, using cosmic ray muon data collected by MicroBooNE. The observed electron attenuation indicates that during stable purity period, the lowest electron drift-lifetime observed is 18.0 ms which corresponds to a charge loss of 12% over the full drift distance at an electric field of 0.273 kV/cm and an O2 equivalent contamination of 17 ppt. This is an indication that the argon purification and recirculation system of MicroBooNE is performing successfully.

U2 - 10.2172/1573054

DO - 10.2172/1573054

M3 - Preprint

BT - A Measurement of the Attenuation of Drifting Electrons in the MicroBooNE LArTPC

ER -