TY - JOUR

T1 - Demonstration of new MeV-scale capabilities in large neutrino LArTPCs using ambient radiogenic and cosmogenic activity in MicroBooNE

AU - MicroBooNE Collaboration

AU - Abratenko, P.

AU - Alterkait, O.

AU - Aldana, D. Andrade

AU - Arellano, L.

AU - Asaadi, J.

AU - Ashkenazi, A.

AU - Balasubramanian, S.

AU - Baller, B.

AU - Barnard, A.

AU - Barr, G.

AU - Barrow, J.

AU - Basque, V.

AU - Rodrigues, O. Benevides

AU - Berkman, S.

AU - Bhanderi, A.

AU - Bhat, A.

AU - Bhattacharya, M.

AU - Bishai, M.

AU - Blake, A.

AU - Bogart, B.

AU - Bolton, T.

AU - Brunetti, M. B.

AU - Camilleri, L.

AU - Caratelli, D.

AU - Cavanna, F.

AU - Cerati, G.

AU - Chappell, A.

AU - Conrad, J. M.

AU - Convery, M.

AU - Cooper-Troendle, L.

AU - Crespo-Anadon, J. I.

AU - Tutto, M. Del

AU - Dennis, S. R.

AU - Detje, P.

AU - Diurba, R.

AU - Djurcic, Z.

AU - Duffy, K.

AU - Dytman, S.

AU - Eberly, B.

AU - Englezos, P.

AU - Ereditato, A.

AU - Fang, C.

AU - Fleming, B. T.

AU - Gu, L.

AU - Mahmud, T.

AU - Mawby, I.

AU - Nowak, J.

AU - Patel, N.

AU - Pophale, I.

N1 - 19 pages, 15 figures total including the supplementary material section

PY - 2025/2/1

Y1 - 2025/2/1

N2 - Large neutrino liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) experiments can broaden their physics reach by reconstructing and interpreting MeV-scale energy depositions, or blips, present in their data. We demonstrate new calorimetric and particle discrimination capabilities at the MeV energy scale using reconstructed blips in data from the MicroBooNE LArTPC at Fermilab. We observe a concentration of low-energy (<3 MeV) blips around fiberglass mechanical support struts along the time projection chamber edges with energy spectrum features consistent with the Compton edge of 2.614 MeV Tl208 decay γ rays. These features are used to verify proper calibration of electron energy scales in MicroBooNE’s data to few percent precision and to measure the specific activity of Tl208 in the fiberglass composing these struts, (11.7±0.2(stat)±3.1(syst)) Bq/kg. Cosmogenically produced blips above 3 MeV in reconstructed energy are used to showcase the ability of large LArTPCs to distinguish between low-energy proton and electron energy depositions. An enriched sample of low-energy protons selected using this new particle discrimination technique is found to be smaller in data than in dedicated cosmic-ray simulations, suggesting either incorrect modeling of incident cosmic fluxes or particle transport modeling issues in eant4. 

AB - Large neutrino liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) experiments can broaden their physics reach by reconstructing and interpreting MeV-scale energy depositions, or blips, present in their data. We demonstrate new calorimetric and particle discrimination capabilities at the MeV energy scale using reconstructed blips in data from the MicroBooNE LArTPC at Fermilab. We observe a concentration of low-energy (<3 MeV) blips around fiberglass mechanical support struts along the time projection chamber edges with energy spectrum features consistent with the Compton edge of 2.614 MeV Tl208 decay γ rays. These features are used to verify proper calibration of electron energy scales in MicroBooNE’s data to few percent precision and to measure the specific activity of Tl208 in the fiberglass composing these struts, (11.7±0.2(stat)±3.1(syst)) Bq/kg. Cosmogenically produced blips above 3 MeV in reconstructed energy are used to showcase the ability of large LArTPCs to distinguish between low-energy proton and electron energy depositions. An enriched sample of low-energy protons selected using this new particle discrimination technique is found to be smaller in data than in dedicated cosmic-ray simulations, suggesting either incorrect modeling of incident cosmic fluxes or particle transport modeling issues in eant4. 

KW - hep-ex

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.111.032005

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.111.032005

M3 - Journal article

VL - 111

JO - Physical Review D

JF - Physical Review D

SN - 1550-7998

IS - 3

M1 - 032005

ER -