Author: "Odian, A" / Publication Type: Reports - Searchworks@Jio Institute Digital Library Search Results

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1. Imaging of single barium atoms in a second matrix site in solid xenon for barium tagging in a $^{136}$Xe double beta decay experiment

Author: Yvaine, M., Fairbank, D., Soderstrom, J., Taylor, C., Stanley, J., Walton, T., Chambers, C., Iverson, A., Fairbank, W., Kharusi, S. Al, Amy, A., Angelico, E., Anker, A., Arnquist, I. J., Atencio, A., Bane, J., Belov, V., Bernard, E. P., Bhatta, T., Bolotnikov, A., Breslin, J., Breur, P. A., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Caden, E., Cao, G. F., Cesmecioglu, D., Chambers, E., Chana, B., Chernyak, D., Chiu, M., Collister, R., Cvitan, M., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., DeVoe, R., di Vacri, M. L., Dolinski, M. J., Eckert, B., Elbeltagi, M., Elmansali, R., Fatemighomi, N., Foust, B., Fu, Y. S., Gallacher, D., Gallice, N., Giacomini, G., Gillis, W., Gingras, C., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hardy, C. A., Hedges, S., Hein, E., Holt, J. D., Hoppe, E. W., Karelin, A., Keblbeck, D., Kotov, I., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Kwiatkowski, A. A., Larson, A., Latif, M. B., Leach, K. G., Lennarz, A., Leonard, D. S., Lewis, H., Li, G., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lindsay, R., MacLellan, R., Majidi, S., Malbrunot, C., Masbou, J., McMichael, K., Peregrina, M. Medina, Moe, M., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Natzke, C. R., Ngwadla, X. E., Ni, K., Nolan, A., Nowicki, S. C., Ondze, J. C. Nzobadila, Odian, A., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Overman, C. T., Pagani, L., Smalley, H. Peltz, Perna, A., Pocar, A., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rasiwala, H., Ray, D., Rescia, S., Richardson, G., Ross, R., Rowson, P. C., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., Schwartz, S., Sekula, S., Si, L., Soma, A. K., Spadoni, F., Stekhanov, V., Sun, X. L., Thibado, S., Tidball, A., Totev, T., Triambak, S., Tsang, T., Tyuka, O. A., van Bruggen, E., Vidal, M., Walent, M., Wamba, K., Wang, H. W., Wang, Q. D., Wang, W., Wang, Y. G., Watts, M., Wehrfritz, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wilde, S., Worcester, M., Xu, H., Yang, L., Yu, M., and Zeldovich, O.
Subjects: Physics - Atomic Physics, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: Neutrinoless double beta decay is one of the most sensitive probes for new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. One of the isotopes under investigation is $^{136}$Xe, which would double beta decay into $^{136}$Ba. Detecting the single $^{136}$Ba daughter provides a sort of ultimate tool in the discrimination against backgrounds. Previous work demonstrated the ability to perform single atom imaging of Ba atoms in a single-vacancy site of a solid xenon matrix. In this paper, the effort to identify signal from individual barium atoms is extended to Ba atoms in a hexa-vacancy site in the matrix and is achieved despite increased photobleaching in this site. Abrupt fluorescence turn-off of a single Ba atom is also observed. Significant recovery of fluorescence signal lost through photobleaching is demonstrated upon annealing of Ba deposits in the Xe ice. Following annealing, it is observed that Ba atoms in the hexa-vacancy site exhibit antibleaching while Ba atoms in the tetra-vacancy site exhibit bleaching. This may be evidence for a matrix site transfer upon laser excitation. Our findings offer a path of continued research toward tagging of Ba daughters in all significant sites in solid xenon., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures
Published: 2024

2. Generative Adversarial Networks for Scintillation Signal Simulation in EXO-200

Author: Li, S., Ostrovskiy, I., Li, Z., Yang, L., Kharusi, S. Al, Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Echevers, J., Fairbank Jr., W., Fairbank, D., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fu, Y. S., Fudenberg, D., Gautam, P., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hansen, E. V., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G. S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., McElroy, T., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Njoya, O., Nusair, O., Odian, A., Perna, A., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retière, F., Robinson, A. L., Rowson, P. C., Runge, J., Schmidt, S., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Soma, A. K., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Thibado, S., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Totev, T. I., and Tsang, R.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, Computer Science - Machine Learning, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: Generative Adversarial Networks trained on samples of simulated or actual events have been proposed as a way of generating large simulated datasets at a reduced computational cost. In this work, a novel approach to perform the simulation of photodetector signals from the time projection chamber of the EXO-200 experiment is demonstrated. The method is based on a Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network - a deep learning technique allowing for implicit non-parametric estimation of the population distribution for a given set of objects. Our network is trained on real calibration data using raw scintillation waveforms as input. We find that it is able to produce high-quality simulated waveforms an order of magnitude faster than the traditional simulation approach and, importantly, generalize from the training sample and discern salient high-level features of the data. In particular, the network correctly deduces position dependency of scintillation light response in the detector and correctly recognizes dead photodetector channels. The network output is then integrated into the EXO-200 analysis framework to show that the standard EXO-200 reconstruction routine processes the simulated waveforms to produce energy distributions comparable to that of real waveforms. Finally, the remaining discrepancies and potential ways to improve the approach further are highlighted., Comment: As accepted by JINST
Published: 2023
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3. Search for Two-neutrino Double-Beta Decay of $^{136}\rm Xe$ to the $0^+_1$ excited state of $^{136}\rm Ba$ with the Complete EXO-200 Dataset

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Kharusi, S. Al, Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Echevers, J., Fairbank Jr., W., Fairbank, D., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fu, Y. S., Fudenberg, D., Gautam, P., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hansen, E. V., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G. S., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., McElroy, T., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Njoya, O., Nusair, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Perna, A., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retière, F., Robinson, A. L., Rowson, P. C., Runge, J., Schmidt, S., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Soma, A. K., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Thibado, S., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Veenstra, B., Veeraraghavan, V., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Xia, Q., Yahne, D. R., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: A new search for two-neutrino double-beta ($2\nu\beta\beta$) decay of $^{136}\rm Xe$ to the $0^+_1$ excited state of $^{136}\rm Ba$ is performed with the full EXO-200 dataset. A deep learning-based convolutional neural network is used to discriminate signal from background events. Signal detection efficiency is increased relative to previous searches by EXO-200 by more than a factor of two. With the addition of the Phase II dataset taken with an upgraded detector, the median 90$\%$ confidence level half-life sensitivity of $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay to the $0^+_1$ state of $^{136}\rm Ba$ is $2.9 \times 10^{24}~\rm yr$ using a total $^{136}\rm Xe$ exposure of $234.1~\rm kg~yr$. No statistically significant evidence for $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay to the $0^+_1$ state is observed, leading to a lower limit of $T^{2\nu}_{1/2}(0^+ \rightarrow 0^+_1) > 1.4\times10^{24}~\rm yr$ at 90$\%$ confidence level, improved by 70$\%$ relative to the current world's best constraint., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables
Published: 2023
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4. Searching for Prompt and Long-Lived Dark Photons in Electro-Produced $e^+e^-$ Pairs with the Heavy Photon Search Experiment at JLab

Author: Adrian, P. H., Baltzell, N. A., Battaglieri, M., Bondi, M., Boyarinov, S., Bravo, C., Bueltmann, S., Butti, P., Burkert, V. D., Calvo, D., Cao, T., Carpinelli, M., Celentano, A., Charles, G., Colaneri, L., Cooper, W., Cuevas, C., D'Angelo, A., Dashyan, N., De Napoli, M., De Vita, R., Deur, A., Diamond, M., Dupre, R., Egiyan, H., Elouadrhiri, L., Essig, R., Fadeyev, V., Field, C., Filippi, A., Freyberger, A., Garcon, M., Gevorgyan, N., Girod, F. X., Graf, N., Graham, M., Griffioen, K. A., Grillo, A., Guidal, M., Herbst, R., Holtrop, M., Jaros, J., Johnson, R. P., Kalicy, G., Khandaker, M., Kubarovsky, V., Leonora, E., Livingston, K., Marsicano, L., Maruyama, T., McCarty, S., McCormick, J., McKinnon, B., Moffeit, K., Moreno, O., Camacho, C. Munoz, Nelson, T., Niccolai, S., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Osipenko, M., Paremuzyan, R., Paul, S., Randazzo, N., Raydo, B., Reese, B., Rizzo, A., Schuster, P., Sharabian, Y. G., Simi, G., Simonyan, A., Sipala, V., Spellman, A., Sokhan, D., Solt, M., Stepanyan, S., Szumila-Vance, H., Toro, N., Uemura, S., Ungaro, M., Voskanyan, H., Weinstein, L. B., Wojtsekhowski, B., and Yale, B.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment
Abstract: The Heavy Photon Search experiment (HPS) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility searches for electro-produced dark photons. We report results from the 2016 Engineering Run consisting of 10608/nb of data for both the prompt and displaced vertex searches. A search for a prompt resonance in the $e^+e^-$ invariant mass distribution between 39 and 179 MeV showed no evidence of dark photons above the large QED background, limiting the coupling of {\epsilon}^2 {\geq} 10^-5, in agreement with previous searches. The search for displaced vertices showed no evidence of excess signal over background in the masses between 60 and 150 MeV, but had insufficient luminosity to limit canonical heavy photon production. This is the first displaced vertex search result published by HPS. HPS has taken high-luminosity data runs in 2019 and 2021 that will explore new dark photon phase space., Comment: 28 pages, 46 figures
Published: 2022
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5. Performance of novel VUV-sensitive Silicon Photo-Multipliers for nEXO

Author: Gallina, G., Guan, Y., Retiere, F., Cao, G., Bolotnikov, A., Kotov, I., Rescia, S., Soma, A. K., Tsang, T., Darroch, L., Brunner, T., Bolster, J., Cohen, J. R., Franco, T. Pinto, Gillis, W. C., Smalley, H. Peltz, Thibado, S., Pocar, A., Bhat, A., Jamil, A., Moore, D. C., Adhikari, G., Kharusi, S. Al, Angelico, E., Arnquist, I. J., Arsenault, P., Badhrees, I., Bane, J., Belov, V., Bernard, E. P., Bhatta, T., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Caden, E., Cao, L., Chambers, C., Chana, B., Charlebois, S. A., Chernyak, D., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Collister, R., Cvitan, M., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Deslandes, K., DeVoe, R., di Vacri, M. L., Ding, Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Eckert, B., Elbeltagi, M., Fabris, L., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Fu, Y. S., Gallacher, D., Gautam, P., Giacomini, G., Gingras, C., Goeldi, D., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hardy, C. A., Hedges, S., Heffner, M., Hein, E., Holt, J., Hoppe, E. W., Hößl, J., House, A., Hunt, W., Iverson, A., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Larson, A., Leach, K. G., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Lessard, G., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lindsay, R., MacLellan, R., Mahtab, M., Majidi, S., Malbrunot, C., Margetak, P., Martel-Dion, P., Martin, L., Masbou, J., Massacret, N., McMichael, K., Mong, B., Murray, K., Nattress, J., Natzke, C. R., Ngwadla, X. E., Ondze, J. C. Nzobadila, Odian, A., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Perna, A., Piepke, A., Pletskova, N., Pratte, J. F., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Ramonnye, G. J., Rao, T., Rasiwala, H., Raymond, K., Rebeiro, B. M., Richardson, G., Ringuette, J., Riot, V., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Rudolph, L., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., Shang, X., Spadoni, F., Stekhanov, V., Sun, X. L., Tidball, A., Totev, T., Triambak, S., Tsang, R. H. M., Tyuka, O. A., Vachon, F., Vidal, M., Viel, S., Visser, G., Wagenpfeil, M., Walent, M., Wamba, K., Wang, Q., Wang, W., Wang, Y., Watts, M., Wei, W., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wilde, S., Worcester, M., Wu, W. H., Wu, X., Xie, L., Yan, W., Yang, H., Yang, L., Zeldovich, O., Zhao, J., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: Liquid xenon time projection chambers are promising detectors to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0$\nu \beta \beta$), due to their response uniformity, monolithic sensitive volume, scalability to large target masses, and suitability for extremely low background operations. The nEXO collaboration has designed a tonne-scale time projection chamber that aims to search for 0$\nu \beta \beta$ of \ce{^{136}Xe} with projected half-life sensitivity of $1.35\times 10^{28}$~yr. To reach this sensitivity, the design goal for nEXO is $\leq$1\% energy resolution at the decay $Q$-value ($2458.07\pm 0.31$~keV). Reaching this resolution requires the efficient collection of both the ionization and scintillation produced in the detector. The nEXO design employs Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) to detect the vacuum ultra-violet, 175 nm scintillation light of liquid xenon. This paper reports on the characterization of the newest vacuum ultra-violet sensitive Fondazione Bruno Kessler VUVHD3 SiPMs specifically designed for nEXO, as well as new measurements on new test samples of previously characterised Hamamatsu VUV4 Multi Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs). Various SiPM and MPPC parameters, such as dark noise, gain, direct crosstalk, correlated avalanches and photon detection efficiency were measured as a function of the applied over voltage and wavelength at liquid xenon temperature (163~K). The results from this study are used to provide updated estimates of the achievable energy resolution at the decay $Q$-value for the nEXO design.
Published: 2022
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6. Search for MeV Electron Recoils from Dark Matter in EXO-200

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Kharusi, S. Al, Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Echevers, J., Fairbank Jr., W., Fairbank, D., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fu, Y. S., Fudenberg, D., Gautam, P., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hansen, E. V., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G. S., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., McElroy, T., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Njoya, O., Nusair, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Perna, A., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retière, F., Robinson, A. L., Rowson, P. C., Ruddell, D., Runge, J., Schmidt, S., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Soma, A. K., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Thibado, S., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R. H. M., Veenstra, B., Veeraraghavan, V., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Watkins, J., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Xia, Q., Yahne, D. R., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: We present a search for electron-recoil signatures from the charged-current absorption of fermionic dark matter using the EXO-200 detector. We report an average electron recoil background rate of $6.8 \times 10^{-4}\, \mathrm{cts}\,\mathrm{kg}^{-1}\mathrm{yr}^{-1}\mathrm{keV}^{-1}$ above $4\,\mathrm{MeV}$ and find no statistically significant excess over our background projection. Using a total ${}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}$ exposure of $234.1\,\mathrm{kg}\,\mathrm{yr}$ we exclude new parameter space for the charged-current absorption cross-section for dark matter masses between $m_\chi = 2.6\,\mathrm{MeV} - 11.6\,\mathrm{MeV}$ with a minimum of $6\times 10^{-51}\,\mathrm{cm}^2$ at $8.3\,\mathrm{MeV}$ at the $90\%$ confidence level., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 1 table
Published: 2022
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7. Search for Majoron-emitting modes of $^{136}$Xe double beta decay with the complete EXO-200 dataset

Author: Kharusi, S. Al, Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Echevers, J., Fairbank Jr., W., Fairbank, D., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gautam, P., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hansen, E. V., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Krucken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G. S., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., McElroy, T., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Njoya, O., Nusair, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Perna, A., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retiere, F., Robinson, A. L., Rowson, P. C., Rudde, D., Runge, J., Schmidt, S., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Soma, A. K., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Thibado, S., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Veenstra, B., Veeraraghavan, V., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Xia, Q., Yahne, D. R., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: A search for Majoron-emitting modes of the neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe is performed with the full EXO-200 dataset. This dataset consists of a total $^{136}$Xe exposure of 234.1 kg$\cdot$yr, and includes data with detector upgrades that have improved the energy threshold relative to previous searches. A lower limit of T$_{1/2}^{\rm{^{136}Xe}}>$4.3$\cdot$10$^{24}$ yr at 90\% C.L. on the half-life of the spectral index $n=1$ Majoron decay was obtained, a factor of 3.6 more stringent than the previous limit from EXO-200, corresponding to a constraint on the Majoron-neutrino coupling constant of $|\langle g_{ee}^{M}\rangle|$$<(0.4$-$0.9)\cdot10^{-5}$. The lower threshold and the additional data taken resulted in a factor 8.4 improvement for the $n=7$ mode compared to the previous EXO search. This search provides the most stringent limits to-date on the Majoron-emitting decays of $^{136}$Xe with spectral indices $n=1,2,3,$ and 7.
Published: 2021
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8. The EXO-200 detector, part II: Auxiliary Systems

Author: Ackerman, N., Albert, J., Auger, M., Auty, D. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Bartoszek, L., Baussan, E., Belov, V., Benitez-Medina, C., Bhatta, T., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Conley, R., Cook, S., Coon, M., Craddock, W., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Davis, C. G., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., deVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dobi, A., Dolgolenko, A. G., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Echevers, J., Espic, L., Fairbank Jr., W., Fairbank, D., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fouts, K., Franco, D., Freytag, D., Fudenberg, D., Gautam, P., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hagemann, C., Hall, C., Hall, K., Haller, G., Hansen, E. V., Hargrove, C., Herbst, R., Herrin, S., Hodgson, J., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Leonard, D. S., Leonard, F., LePort, F., Li, G. S., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Mackay, D., MacLellan, R., Marino, M., Martin, J. -M., Martin, Y., McElroy, T., McFarlane, K., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Neilson, R., Njoya, O., Nusair, O., O'Sullivan, K., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Ouellet, C., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Pushkin, K., Retiere, F., Rivas, A., Robinson, A. L., Rollin, E., Rowson, P. C., Rozo, M. P., Runge, J., Russell, J. J., Schmidt, S., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Slutsky, S., Smith, E., Soma, A. K., Stekhanov, V., Strickland, V., Swift, M., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Tosi, D., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Twelker, K., Veenstra, B., Veeraraghavan, V., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Vuilleumier, J. -M., Wagenpfeil, M., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Wamba, K., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wittgen, M., Wodin, J., Wood, J., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Xia, Q., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya, and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: The EXO-200 experiment searched for neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe with a single-phase liquid xenon detector. It used an active mass of 110 kg of 80.6%-enriched liquid xenon in an ultra-low background time projection chamber with ionization and scintillation detection and readout. This paper describes the design and performance of the various support systems necessary for detector operation, including cryogenics, xenon handling, and controls. Novel features of the system were driven by the need to protect the thin-walled detector chamber containing the liquid xenon, to achieve high chemical purity of the Xe, and to maintain thermal uniformity across the detector., Comment: Manuscript updated in response to JINST reviewer comments
Published: 2021
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9. NEXO: Neutrinoless double beta decay search beyond $10^{28}$ year half-life sensitivity

Author: nEXO Collaboration, Adhikari, G., Kharusi, S. Al, Angelico, E., Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Bane, J., Belov, V., Bernard, E. P., Bhatta, T., Bolotnikov, A., Breur, P. A., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Caden, E., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Chambers, C., Chana, B., Charlebois, S. A., Chernyak, D., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Collister, R., Czyz, S. A., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., DeVoe, R., Di Vacri, M. L., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Elbeltagi, M., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Ferrara, S., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fu, Y. S., Gallina, G., Gautam, P., Giacomini, G., Gingras, W. Gillis C., Goeldi, D., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hardy, C. A., Harouaka, K., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., House, A., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jewell, M., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Kotov, I., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Leach, K. G., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lindsay, R., MacLellan, R., Mahtab, M., Martel-Dion, P., Masbou, J., Massacret, N., McElroy, T., McMichael, K., Peregrina, M. Medina, Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Nattress, J., Natzke, C. R., Newby, R. J., Ni, K., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Ondze, J. C. Nzobadila, Odgers, K., Odian, A., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Perna, A., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J-F., Priel, N., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Ramonnye, G. J., Rao, T., Rasiwala, H., Rescia, S., Retière, F., Ringuette, J., Riot, V., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., Shang, X., Soma, A. K., Spadoni, F., Stekhanov, V., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Thibado, S., Tidball, A., Todd, J., Totev, T., Triambak, S., Tsang, R. H. M., Tsang, T., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Viel, S., Vivo-Vilches, C., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J-L., Wagenpfeil, M., Wager, T., Walent, M., Wamba, K., Wang, Q., Wei, W., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wilde, S., Worcester, M., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Wu, X., Xia, Q., Yan, W., Yang, H., Yang, L., Zeldovich, O., Zhao, J., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: The nEXO neutrinoless double beta decay experiment is designed to use a time projection chamber and 5000 kg of isotopically enriched liquid xenon to search for the decay in $^{136}$Xe. Progress in the detector design, paired with higher fidelity in its simulation and an advanced data analysis, based on the one used for the final results of EXO-200, produce a sensitivity prediction that exceeds the half-life of $10^{28}$ years. Specifically, improvements have been made in the understanding of production of scintillation photons and charge as well as of their transport and reconstruction in the detector. The more detailed knowledge of the detector construction has been paired with more assays for trace radioactivity in different materials. In particular, the use of custom electroformed copper is now incorporated in the design, leading to a substantial reduction in backgrounds from the intrinsic radioactivity of detector materials. Furthermore, a number of assumptions from previous sensitivity projections have gained further support from interim work validating the nEXO experiment concept. Together these improvements and updates suggest that the nEXO experiment will reach a half-life sensitivity of $1.35\times 10^{28}$ yr at 90% confidence level in 10 years of data taking, covering the parameter space associated with the inverted neutrino mass ordering, along with a significant portion of the parameter space for the normal ordering scenario, for almost all nuclear matrix elements. The effects of backgrounds deviating from the nominal values used for the projections are also illustrated, concluding that the nEXO design is robust against a number of imperfections of the model., Comment: 26 pages, 19 figures, version accepted by Journal of Phys. G
Published: 2021
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10. Reflectivity of VUV-sensitive Silicon Photomultipliers in Liquid Xenon

Author: Wagenpfeil, M., Ziegler, T., Schneider, J., Fieguth, A., Murra, M., Schulte, D., Althueser, L., Huhmann, C., Weinheimer, C., Michel, T., Anton, G., Adhikari, G., Kharusi, S. Al, Angelico, E., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Bane, J., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Bolotnikov, A., Breur, P. A., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Caden, E., Cao, G. F., Chambers, C., Chana, B., Charlebois, S. A., Chernyak, D., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., Croix, A. de St, Deslandes, K., DeVoe, R., Di Vacri, M. L., Dolinski, M. J., Echevers, J., Elbeltagi, M., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Ferrara, S., Feyzbakhsh, S., Gallina, G., Gautam, P., Giacomini, G., Gingras, C., Goeldi, D., Gorham, A., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Hardy, C. A., Harouaka, K., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., House, A., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jewell, M., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Leach, K. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lindsay, R., MacLellan, R., Martel-Dion, P., Massacret, N., McElroy, T., Peregrina, M. Medina, Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Nattress, J., Natzke, C. R., Newby, R. J., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Ondze, J. C. Nzobadila, Odgers, K., Odian, A., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Raguzin, E., Ramonnye, G. J., Rasiwala, H., Rescia, S., Retière, F., Richard, C., Richman, M., Ringuette, J., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., Soma, A. K., Spadoni, F., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Tarka, M., Thibado, S., Tidball, A., Todd, J., Totev, T., Triambak, S., Tsang, R., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Viel, S., Vivo-Vilches, C., Walent, M., Wichoski, U., Worcester, M., Wu, S. X., Xia, Q., Yan, W., Yang, L., and Zeldovich, O.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: Silicon photomultipliers are regarded as a very promising technology for next-generation, cutting-edge detectors for low-background experiments in particle physics. This work presents systematic reflectivity studies of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM) and other samples in liquid xenon at vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) wavelengths. A dedicated setup at the University of M\"unster has been used that allows to acquire angle-resolved reflection measurements of various samples immersed in liquid xenon with 0.45{\deg} angular resolution. Four samples are investigated in this work: one Hamamatsu VUV4 SiPM, one FBK VUV-HD SiPM, one FBK wafer sample and one Large-Area Avalanche Photodiode (LA-APD) from EXO-200. The reflectivity is determined to be 25-36% at an angle of incidence of 20{\deg} for the four samples and increases to up to 65% at 70{\deg} for the LA-APD and the FBK samples. The Hamamatsu VUV4 SiPM shows a decline with increasing angle of incidence. The reflectivity results will be incorporated in upcoming light response simulations of the nEXO detector., Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures
Published: 2021
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11. Event Reconstruction in a Liquid Xenon Time Projection Chamber with an Optically-Open Field Cage

Author: Stiegler, T., Sangiorgio, S., Brodsky, J. P., Heffner, M., Kharusi, S. Al, Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Bolotnikov, A., Breur, P. A., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Caden, E., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Chambers, C., Chana, B., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Croix, A. De St., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., Deslandes, K., DeVoe, R., Di Vacri, M. L., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Edaltafar, F., Elbeltagi, M., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Ferrara, S., Feyzbakhsh, S., Gallina, G., Gautam, P., Giacomini, G., Goeldi, D., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Hoppe, E. W., Hößl, J., House, A., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Leach, K. G., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lv, P., MacLellan, R., Massacret, N., McElroy, T., Medina-Peregrina, M., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Nakarmi, P., Natzke, C. R., Newby, R. J., Ni, K., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Odgers, K., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rescia, S., Retière, F., Richman, M., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Saldanha, R., VIII, K. Skarpaas, Soma, A. K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Thibado, S., Tidball, A., Todd, J., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Tsang, T., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Viel, S., Visser, G., Vivo-Vilches, C., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Wager, T., Walent, M., Wang, Q., Wei, W., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Worcester, M., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Wu, X., Xia, Q., Yang, H., Yang, L., Zeldovich, O., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: nEXO is a proposed tonne-scale neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) experiment using liquid ${}^{136}Xe$ (LXe) in a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) to read out ionization and scintillation signals. Between the field cage and the LXe vessel, a layer of LXe ("skin" LXe) is present, where no ionization signal is collected. Only scintillation photons are detected, owing to the lack of optical barrier around the field cage. In this work, we show that the light originating in the skin LXe region can be used to improve background discrimination by 5% over previous published estimates. This improvement comes from two elements. First, a fraction of the $\gamma$-ray background is removed by identifying light from interactions with an energy deposition in the skin LXe. Second, background from ${}^{222}Rn$ dissolved in the skin LXe can be efficiently rejected by tagging the $\alpha$ decay in the ${}^{214}Bi-{}^{214}Po$ chain in the skin LXe., Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures
Published: 2020
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12. Measurement of the Spectral Shape of the beta-decay of 137Xe to the Ground State of 137Cs in EXO-200 and Comparison with Theory

Author: Kharusi, S. Al, Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Echevers, J., Fairbank Jr., W., Fairbank, D., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gautam, P., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hansen, E. V., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Kostensalo, J., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G. S., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., McElroy, T., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Nakarmi, P., Njoya, O., Nusair, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retière, F., Robinson, A. L., Rowson, P. C., Ruddell, D., Runge, J., Schmidt, S., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Soma, A. K., Stekhanov, V., Suhonen, J., Tarka, M., Thibado, S., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Veenstra, B., Veeraraghavan, V., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Xia, Q., Yahne, D. R., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, Nuclear Theory
Abstract: We report on a comparison between the theoretically predicted and experimentally measured spectra of the first-forbidden non-unique $\beta$-decay transition $^{137}\textrm{Xe}(7/2^-)\to\,^{137}\textrm{Cs}(7/2^+)$. The experimental data were acquired by the EXO-200 experiment during a deployment of an AmBe neutron source. The ultra-low background environment of EXO-200, together with dedicated source deployment and analysis procedures, allowed for collection of a pure sample of the decays, with an estimated signal-to-background ratio of more than 99-to-1 in the energy range from 1075 to 4175 keV. In addition to providing a rare and accurate measurement of the first-forbidden non-unique $\beta$-decay shape, this work constitutes a novel test of the calculated electron spectral shapes in the context of the reactor antineutrino anomaly and spectral bump., Comment: Version as accepted by PRL
Published: 2020
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13. Reflectance of Silicon Photomultipliers at Vacuum Ultraviolet Wavelengths

Author: Lv, P., Cao, G. F., Wen, L. J., Kharusi, S. Al, Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Breur, P. A., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Mamahit, S. Byrne, Caden, E., Cao, L., Chambers, C., Chana, B., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Croix, A. De St., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., Deslandes, K., DeVoe, R., Di Vacri, M. L., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Doria, L., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Edaltafar, F., Elbeltagi, M., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Ferrara, S., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fucarino, A., Gallina, G., Gautam, P., Giacomini, G., Goeldi, D., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., Hößl, J., House, A., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Leach, K. G., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., MacLellan, R., Massacret, N., McElroy, T., Medina-Peregrina, M., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Nakarmi, P., Natzke, C. R., Newby, R. J., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Odgers, K., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rescia, S., Retière, F., Richman, M., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Runge, J., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., VIII, K. Skarpaas, Soma, A. K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Tsang, T., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Viel, S., Visser, G., Vivo-Vilches, C., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Wager, T., Walent, M., Wang, Q., Watkins, J., Wei, W., Wichoski, U., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Wu, X., Xia, Q., Yang, H., Yang, L., Zeldovich, O., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment
Abstract: Characterization of the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) reflectance of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) is important for large-scale SiPM-based photodetector systems. We report the angular dependence of the specular reflectance in a vacuum of SiPMs manufactured by Fondazionc Bruno Kessler (FBK) and Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (HPK) over wavelengths ranging from 120 nm to 280 nm. Refractive index and extinction coefficient of the thin silicon-dioxide film deposited on the surface of the FBK SiPMs are derived from reflectance data of a FBK silicon wafer with the same deposited oxide film as SiPMs. The diffuse reflectance of SiPMs is also measured at 193 nm. We use the VUV spectral dependence of the optical constants to predict the reflectance of the FBK silicon wafer and FBK SiPMs in liquid xenon.
Published: 2019
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14. Measurements of electron transport in liquid and gas Xenon using a laser-driven photocathode

Author: Njoya, O., Tsang, T., Tarka, M., Fairbank, W., Kumar, K. S., Rao, T., Wager, T., Kharusi, S. Al, Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Caden, E., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Chana, B., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Croix, A. De St., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Di Vacri, M. L., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Elbeltagi, M., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Farine, J., Ferrara, S., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fontaine, R., Fucarino, A., Gallina, G., Gautam, P., Giacomini, G., Goeldi, D., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., Hossl, J., House, A., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Kodroff, D., Koffas, T., Krucken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Leach, K. G., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Lv, P., MacLellan, R., McElroy, T., Medina-Peregrina, M., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Nakarmi, P., Natzke, C. R., Newby, R. J., Ning, Z., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Odgers, K., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rescia, S., Retiere, F., Richman, M., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Runge, J., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., VIII, K. Skarpaas, Soma, A. K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Sun, X. L., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Viel, S., Visser, G., Vivo-Vilches, C., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Walent, M., Wang, Q., Ward, M., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wei, W., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Wu, X., Xia, Q., Yang, H., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: Measurements of electron drift properties in liquid and gaseous xenon are reported. The electrons are generated by the photoelectric effect in a semi-transparent gold photocathode driven in transmission mode with a pulsed ultraviolet laser. The charges drift and diffuse in a small chamber at various electric fields and a fixed drift distance of 2.0 cm. At an electric field of 0.5 kV/cm, the measured drift velocities and corresponding temperature coefficients respectively are $1.97 \pm 0.04$ mm/$\mu$s and $(-0.69\pm0.05)$\%/K for liquid xenon, and $1.42 \pm 0.03$ mm/$\mu$s and $(+0.11\pm0.01)$\%/K for gaseous xenon at 1.5 bar. In addition, we measure longitudinal diffusion coefficients of $25.7 \pm 4.6$ cm$^2$/s and $149 \pm 23$ cm$^2$/s, for liquid and gas, respectively. The quantum efficiency of the gold photocathode is studied at the photon energy of 4.73 eV in liquid and gaseous xenon, and vacuum. These charge transport properties and the behavior of photocathodes in a xenon environment are important in designing and calibrating future large scale noble liquid detectors.
Published: 2019
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15. Reflectivity and PDE of VUV4 Hamamatsu SiPMs in Liquid Xenon

Author: Nakarmi, P., Ostrovskiy, I., Soma, A. K., Retiere, F., Kharusi, S. Al, Alfaris, M., Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Blatchford, J., Breur, P. A., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Mamahit, S. Byrne, Caden, E., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Chambers, C., Chana, B., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Croix, A. De St., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Di Vacri, M. L., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Doria, L., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Edaltafar, F., Elbeltagi, M., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Ferrara, S., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fontaine, R., Fucarino, A., Gallina, G., Gautam, P., Giacomini, G., Goeldi, D., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., Hößle, J., House, A., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Leach, K. G., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lv, P., MacLellan, R., Massacret, N., McElroy, T., Medina-Peregrina, M., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Natzke, C. R., Newby, R. J., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Odgers, K., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Orrell, l J. L., Ortega, G. S., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rescia, S., Richman, M., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Runge, J., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., VIII, K. Skarpaas, St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, r V., Stiegler, T., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Tsang, T., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Viel, S., Visser, G., Vivo-Vilches, C., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Wager, T., Walent, M., Wang, Q., Ward, M., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wei, W., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Wu, X., Xia, Q., Yang, H., Yang, L., Zeldovich, O., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment
Abstract: Understanding reflective properties of materials and photodetection efficiency (PDE) of photodetectors is important for optimizing energy resolution and sensitivity of the next generation neutrinoless double beta decay, direct detection dark matter, and neutrino oscillation experiments that will use noble liquid gases, such as nEXO, DARWIN, DarkSide-20k, and DUNE. Little information is currently available about reflectivity and PDE in liquid noble gases, because such measurements are difficult to conduct in a cryogenic environment and at short enough wavelengths. Here we report a measurement of specular reflectivity and relative PDE of Hamamatsu VUV4 silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) with 50 micrometer micro-cells conducted with xenon scintillation light (~175 nm) in liquid xenon. The specular reflectivity at 15 deg. incidence of three samples of VUV4 SiPMs is found to be 30.4+/-1.4%, 28.6+/-1.3%, and 28.0+/-1.3%, respectively. The PDE at normal incidence differs by +/-8% (standard deviation) among the three devices. The angular dependence of the reflectivity and PDE was also measured for one of the SiPMs. Both the reflectivity and PDE decrease as the angle of incidence increases. This is the first measurement of an angular dependence of PDE and reflectivity of a SiPM in liquid xenon., Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables. As accepted by JINST
Published: 2019
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16. Measurement of the scintillation and ionization response of liquid xenon at MeV energies in the EXO-200 experiment

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Echevers, J., Fairbank Jr., W., Fairbank, D., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gautam, P., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hansen, E. V., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Krucken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G. S., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., McElroy, T., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Neilson, R., Njoya, O., Nusair, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retiere, F., Robinson, A. L., Rowson, P. C., Runge, J., Schmidt, S., Sinclair, D., Soma, A. K., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Tosi, D., Totev, T. I., Veenstra, B., Veeraraghavan, V., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Xia, Q., Yahne, D. R., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., and Ziegle, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment
Abstract: Liquid xenon (LXe) is employed in a number of current and future detectors for rare event searches. We use the EXO-200 experimental data to measure the absolute scintillation and ionization yields generated by $\gamma$ interactions from $^{228}$Th (2615~keV), $^{226}$Ra (1764~keV) and $^{60}$Co (1332~keV and 1173~keV) calibration sources, over a range of electric fields. The $W$-value that defines the recombination-independent energy scale is measured to be $11.5~\pm~0.5$~(syst.)~$\pm~0.1$~(stat.) eV. These data are also used to measure the recombination fluctuations in the number of electrons and photons produced by the calibration sources at the MeV-scale, which deviate from extrapolations of lower-energy data. Additionally, a semi-empirical model for the energy resolution of the detector is developed, which is used to constrain the recombination efficiency, i.e., the fraction of recombined electrons that result in the emission of a detectable photon. Detailed measurements of the absolute charge and light yields for MeV-scale electron recoils are important for predicting the performance of future neutrinoless double beta decay detectors.
Published: 2019
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17. Simulation of charge readout with segmented tiles in nEXO

Author: Li, Z., Cen, W. R., Robinson, A., Moore, D. C., Wen, L. J., Odian, A., Kharusi, S. Al, Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Caden, E., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Chambers, C., Chana, B., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Croix, A. De St., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Di Vacri, M. L., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Elbeltagi, M., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Ferrara, S., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fontaine, R., Fucarino, A., Gallina, G., Gautam, P., Giacomini, G., Goeldi, D., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., Hößl, J., House, A., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Kodroff, D., Koffas, T., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Leach, K. G., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G., Li, S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Lv, P., MacLellan, R., McElroy, T., Medina-Peregrina, M., Michel, T., Mong, B., Murray, K., Nakarmi, P., Natzke, C. R., Newby, R. J., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Odgers, K., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rescia, S., Retière, F., Richman, M., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Runge, J., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., VIII, K. Skarpaas, Soma, A. K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Tsang, T., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Viel, S., Visser, G., Vivo-Vilches, C., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Walent, M., Wang, Q., Ward, M., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wei, W., Wichoski, U., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Wu, X., Xia, Q., Yang, H., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: nEXO is a proposed experiment to search for the neutrino-less double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) of $^{136}$Xe in a tonne-scale liquid xenon time projection chamber (TPC). The nEXO TPC will be equipped with charge collection tiles to form the anode. In this work, the charge reconstruction performance of this anode design is studied with a dedicated simulation package. A multi-variate method and a deep neural network are developed to distinguish simulated $0\nu\beta\beta$ signals from backgrounds arising from trace levels of natural radioactivity in the detector materials. These simulations indicate that the nEXO TPC with charge-collection tiles shows promising capability to discriminate the $0\nu\beta\beta$ signal from backgrounds. The estimated half-life sensitivity for $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay is improved by $\sim$20$~(32)\%$ with the multi-variate~(deep neural network) methods considered here, relative to the sensitivity estimated in the nEXO pre-conceptual design report.
Published: 2019
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18. Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay with the Complete EXO-200 Dataset

Author: Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Echevers, J., Fairbank Jr., W., Fairbank, D., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gautam, P., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hansen, E. V., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Li, G. S., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., McElroy, T., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Njoya, O., Nusair, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retière, F., Robinson, A. L., Rowson, P. C., Ruddell, D., Runge, J., Schmidt, S., Sinclair, D., Soma, A. K., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Totev, T. I., Veenstra, B., Veeraraghavan, V., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Xia, Q., Yahne, D. R., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: A search for neutrinoless double-beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) in $^{136}$Xe is performed with the full EXO-200 dataset using a deep neural network to discriminate between $0\nu\beta\beta$ and background events. Relative to previous analyses, the signal detection efficiency has been raised from 80.8% to 96.4$\pm$3.0% and the energy resolution of the detector at the Q-value of $^{136}$Xe $0\nu\beta\beta$ has been improved from $\sigma/E=1.23\%$ to $1.15\pm0.02\%$ with the upgraded detector. Accounting for the new data, the median 90% confidence level $0\nu\beta\beta$ half-life sensitivity for this analysis is $5.0 \cdot 10^{25}$ yr with a total $^{136}$Xe exposure of 234.1 kg$\cdot$yr. No statistically significant evidence for $0\nu\beta\beta$ is observed, leading to a lower limit on the $0\nu\beta\beta$ half-life of $3.5\cdot10^{25}$ yr at the 90% confidence level., Comment: v1, 7 pages, 5 figures; v2, fix references; v3, update to accepted version
Published: 2019
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19. Characterization of the Hamamatsu VUV4 MPPCs for nEXO

Author: Gallina, G., Giampa, P., Retiere, F., Kroeger, J., Zhang, G., Ward, M., Margetak, P., Lic, G., Tsang, T., Doria, L., Kharusi, S. Al, Alfaris, M., Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Blatchford, J., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Croix, A. De St., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Elbeltagi, M., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fontaine, R., Gautam, P., Giacomini, G., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., Hoßl, J., House, A., Hughes, M., Ito, Y., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Kodroff, D., Koffas, T., Krucken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lana, Y., Larson, A., Lenardo, B. G., Leonarda, D. S., Lik, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Linw, Y. H., Lv, P., MacLellan, R., McElroy, T., Medina-Peregrina, M., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Nakarmi, P., Newby, R. J., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Odgers, K., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Piepkez, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Qiu, D., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rescia, S., Richman, M., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., VIII, K. Skarpaas, Soma, A. K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Visser, G., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Walent, M., Wang, Q., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wei, W., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Wu, X., Xia, Q., Yang, H., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: In this paper we report on the characterization of the Hamamatsu VUV4 (S/N: S13370-6152) Vacuum Ultra-Violet (VUV) sensitive Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) as part of the development of a solution for the detection of liquid xenon scintillation light for the nEXO experiment. Various SiPM features, such as: dark noise, gain, correlated avalanches, direct crosstalk and Photon Detection Efficiency (PDE) were measured in a dedicated setup at TRIUMF. SiPMs were characterized in the range $163 \text{ } \text{K} \leq \text{T}\leq 233 \text{ } \text{K}$. At an over voltage of $3.1\pm0.2$ V and at $\text{T}=163 \text{ }\text{K}$ we report a number of Correlated Avalanches (CAs) per pulse in the $1 \upmu\text{s}$ interval following the trigger pulse of $0.161\pm0.005$. At the same settings the Dark-Noise (DN) rate is $0.137\pm0.002 \text{ Hz/mm}^{2}$. Both the number of CAs and the DN rate are within nEXO specifications. The PDE of the Hamamatsu VUV4 was measured for two different devices at $\text{T}=233 \text{ }\text{K}$ for a mean wavelength of $189\pm7\text{ nm}$. At $3.6\pm0.2$ V and $3.5\pm0.2$ V of over voltage we report a PDE of $13.4\pm2.6\text{ }\%$ and $11\pm2\%$, corresponding to a saturation PDE of $14.8\pm2.8\text{ }\%$ and $12.2\pm2.3\%$, respectively. Both values are well below the $24\text{ }\%$ saturation PDE advertised by Hamamatsu. More generally, the second device tested at $3.5\pm0.2$ V of over voltage is below the nEXO PDE requirement. The first one instead yields a PDE that is marginally close to meeting the nEXO specifications. This suggests that with modest improvements the Hamamatsu VUV4 MPPCs could be considered as an alternative to the FBK-LF SiPMs for the final design of the nEXO detector.
Published: 2019
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20. Search for a Dark Photon in Electro-Produced $e^{+}e^{-}$ Pairs with the Heavy Photon Search Experiment at JLab

Author: Adrian, P. H., Baltzell, N. A., Battaglieri, M., Bondí, M., Boyarinov, S., Bueltmann, S., Burkert, V. D., Calvo, D., Carpinelli, M., Celentano, A., Charles, G., Colaneri, L., Cooper, W., Cuevas, C., D'Angelo, A., Dashyan, N., De Napoli, M., De Vita, R., Deur, A., Dupre, R., Egiyan, H., Elouadrhiri, L., Essig, R., Fadeyev, V., Field, C., Filippi, A., Freyberger, A., Garçon, M., Gevorgyan, N., Girod, F. X., Graf, N., Graham, M., Griffioen, K. A., Grillo, A., Guidal, M., Herbst, R., Holtrop, M., Jaros, J., Kalicy, G., Khandaker, M., Kubarovsky, V., Leonora, E., Livingston, K., Maruyama, T., McCarty, K., McCormick, J., McKinnon, B., Moffeit, K., Moreno, O., Camacho, C. Munoz, Nelson, T., Niccolai, S., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Osipenko, M., Paremuzyan, R., Paul, S., Randazzo, N., Raydo, B., Reese, B., Rizzo, A., Schuster, P., Sharabian, Y. G., Simi, G., Simonyan, A., Sipala, V., Sokhan, D., Solt, M., Stepanyan, S., Szumila-Vance, H., Toro, N., Uemura, S., Ungaro, M., Voskanyan, H., Weinstein, L. B., Wojtsekhowski, B., and Yale, B.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract: The Heavy Photon Search experiment took its first data in a 2015 engineering run using a 1.056 GeV, 50 nA electron beam provided by CEBAF at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, searching for an electro-produced dark photon. Using 1.7 days (1170 nb$^{-1}$) of data, a search for a resonance in the $e^{+}e^{-}$ invariant mass distribution between 19 and 81 MeV/c$^2$ showed no evidence of dark photon decays above the large QED background, confirming earlier searches and demonstrating the full functionality of the experiment. Upper limits on the square of the coupling of the dark photon to the Standard Model photon are set at the level of 6$\times$10$^{-6}$. In addition, a search for displaced dark photon decays did not rule out any territory but resulted in a reliable analysis procedure that will probe hitherto unexplored parameter space with future, higher luminosity runs., Comment: 8 pages, Proceedings of the 39th International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP 2018), 4-11 July, 2018, Seoul, Korea
Published: 2018

21. Study of Silicon Photomultiplier Performance in External Electric Fields

Author: Sun, X. L., Tolba, T., Cao, G. F., Lv, P., Wen, L. J., Odian, A., Vachon, F., Alamre, A., Albert, J. B., Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Bourque, F., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, L., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Côté, M., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fontaine, R., Fudenberg, D., Gallina, G., Giacomini, G., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Harris, D., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., Hößl, J., House, A., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Ito, Y., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Kodroff, D., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Leonard, D. S., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Michel, T., Moe, M., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Newby, R. J., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Odgers, K., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Qiu, D., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rao, T., Rescia, S., Retière, F., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., Schmidt, S., Schneider, J., Sinclair, D., VIII, K. Skarpaas, Soma, A. K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Tsang, T., Veenstra, B., Veeraraghavan, V., Visser, G., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Wang, Q., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wei, W., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Xia, Q., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: We report on the performance of silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) light sensors operating in electric field strength up to 30 kV/cm and at a temperature of 149K, relative to their performance in the absence of an external electric field. The SiPM devices used in this study show stable gain, photon detection efficiency, and rates of correlated pulses, when exposed to external fields, within the estimated uncertainties. No observable physical damage to the bulk or surface of the devices was caused by the exposure., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables and two conferences (INPC2016 and TIPP2017)
Published: 2018
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22. Imaging individual barium atoms in solid xenon for barium tagging in nEXO

Author: Chambers, C., Walton, T., Fairbank, D., Craycraft, A., Yahne, D. R., Todd, J., Iverson, A., Fairbank, W., Alamare, A., Albert, J. B., Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Bourque, F., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Cen, W. R., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Cree, W., Côté, M., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Fabris, L., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fontaine, R., Fudenberg, D., Giacomini, G., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., Hößl, J., House, A., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Ito, Y., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Kodroff, D., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Leonard, D. S., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Lv, P., MacLellan, R., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Newby, R. J., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Odgers, K., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Qiu, D., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rao, T., Rescia, S., Retière, F., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., Schmidt, S., Schneider, J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., VIII, K. Skarpaas, Soma, A. K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, T. I. Totev. R., Tsang, T., Vachon, F., Veenstra, B., Veeraraghavan, V., Visser, G., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Wang, Q., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wei, W., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Xia, Q., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O., Zhang, X., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: The search for neutrinoless double beta decay probes the fundamental properties of neutrinos, including whether or not the neutrino and antineutrino are distinct. Double beta detectors are large and expensive, so background reduction is essential for extracting the highest sensitivity. The identification, or 'tagging', of the $^{136}$Ba daughter atom from double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe provides a technique for eliminating backgrounds in the nEXO neutrinoless double beta decay experiment. The tagging scheme studied in this work utilizes a cryogenic probe to trap the barium atom in solid xenon, where the barium atom is tagged via fluorescence imaging in the solid xenon matrix. Here we demonstrate imaging and counting of individual atoms of barium in solid xenon by scanning a focused laser across a solid xenon matrix deposited on a sapphire window. When the laser sits on an individual atom, the fluorescence persists for $\sim$30~s before dropping abruptly to the background level, a clear confirmation of one-atom imaging. No barium fluorescence persists following evaporation of a barium deposit to a limit of $\leq$0.16\%. This is the first time that single atoms have been imaged in solid noble element. It establishes the basic principle of a barium tagging technique for nEXO.
Published: 2018

23. VUV-sensitive Silicon Photomultipliers for Xenon Scintillation Light Detection in nEXO

Author: Jamil, A., Ziegler, T., Hufschmidt, P., Li, G., Lupin-Jimenez, L., Michel, T., Ostrovskiy, I., Retière, F., Schneider, J., Wagenpfeil, M., Albert, J. B., Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P., Beck, D., Belov, V., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Côté, M., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fontaine, R., Fudenberg, D., Gallina, G., Giacomini, G., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Harris, D., Hasan, M., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., House, A., Hughes, M., Hößl, J., Ito, Y., Iverson, A., Jewell, M., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Leonard, D. S., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Mong, B., Moore, D., Murray, K., Newby, R. J., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Odgers, K., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Overman, C. T., Ortega, G. S., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Qiu, D., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rao, T., Rescia, S., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., Schmidt, S., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Soma, A. K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Tsang, T., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Visser, G., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wang, Q., Weber, M., Wei, W., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Xia, Q., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O., Zhang, X., Zhao, J., and Zhou, Y.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: Future tonne-scale liquefied noble gas detectors depend on efficient light detection in the VUV range. In the past years Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) have emerged as a valid alternative to standard photomultiplier tubes or large area avalanche photodiodes. The next generation double beta decay experiment, nEXO, with a 5 tonne liquid xenon time projection chamber, will use SiPMs for detecting the $178\,\text{nm}$ xenon scintillation light, in order to achieve an energy resolution of $\sigma / Q_{\beta\beta} = 1\, \%$. This paper presents recent measurements of the VUV-HD generation SiPMs from Fondazione Bruno Kessler in two complementary setups. It includes measurements of the photon detection efficiency with gaseous xenon scintillation light in a vacuum setup and dark measurements in a dry nitrogen gas setup. We report improved photon detection efficiency at $175\,\text{nm}$ compared to previous generation devices, that would meet the criteria of nEXO. Furthermore, we present the projected nEXO detector light collection and energy resolution that could be achieved by using these SiPMs., Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables
Published: 2018
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24. nEXO Pre-Conceptual Design Report

Author: nEXO Collaboration, Kharusi, S. Al, Alamre, A., Albert, J. B., Alfaris, M., Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bhatta, T., Bourque, F., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Conley, R., Coon, M., Côté, M., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Danovitch, D., Darroch, L., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., DeVoe, R., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., Di Vacri, M. L., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Echevers, J., Fabris, L., Fairbank, D., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Ferrara, S., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fontaine, R., Fudenberg, D., Gallina, G., Giacomini, G., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Haller, G., Hansen, E. V., Harris, D., Hasi, J., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., Hößl, J., House, A., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Ito, Y., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jessiman, C., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Kenney, C., Killick, R., Kodroff, D., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Larson, A., Lenardo, B. G., Leonard, D. S., Lewis, C. M., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Lv, P., MacLellan, R., McFarlane, K., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Newby, R. J., Nguyen, T., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Nusair, O., Odgers, K., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Patel, M., Peña-Perez, A., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Qiu, D., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rao, T., Rescia, S., Retière, F., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Runge, J., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., Schmidt, S., Schneider, J., Schubert, A., Segal, J., Skarpaas~VIII, K., Soma, A. K., Spitaels, K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Totev, T. I., Tsang, R., Tsang, T., Vachon, F., Veenstra, B., Veeraraghavan, V., Visser, G., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Wang, Q., Ward, M., Watkins, J., Weber, M., Wei, W., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Xia, Q., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O., Zhang, X., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: The projected performance and detector configuration of nEXO are described in this pre-Conceptual Design Report (pCDR). nEXO is a tonne-scale neutrinoless double beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay search in $^{136}$Xe, based on the ultra-low background liquid xenon technology validated by EXO-200. With $\simeq$ 5000 kg of xenon enriched to 90% in the isotope 136, nEXO has a projected half-life sensitivity of approximately $10^{28}$ years. This represents an improvement in sensitivity of about two orders of magnitude with respect to current results. Based on the experience gained from EXO-200 and the effectiveness of xenon purification techniques, we expect the background to be dominated by external sources of radiation. The sensitivity increase is, therefore, entirely derived from the increase of active mass in a monolithic and homogeneous detector, along with some technical advances perfected in the course of a dedicated R&D program. Hence the risk which is inherent to the construction of a large, ultra-low background detector is reduced, as the intrinsic radioactive contamination requirements are generally not beyond those demonstrated with the present generation $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay experiments. Indeed, most of the required materials have been already assayed or reasonable estimates of their properties are at hand. The details described herein represent the base design of the detector configuration as of early 2018. Where potential design improvements are possible, alternatives are discussed. This design for nEXO presents a compelling path towards a next generation search for $0\nu\beta\beta$, with a substantial possibility to discover physics beyond the Standard Model., Comment: 182 pages, minor revisions
Published: 2018

25. Deep Neural Networks for Energy and Position Reconstruction in EXO-200

Author: Delaquis, S., Jewell, M. J., Ostrovskiy, I., Weber, M., Ziegler, T., Dalmasson, J., Kaufman, L. J., Richards, T., Albert, J. B., Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Bayerlein, R., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Davis, J., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gornea, R., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hansen, E. V., Harris, D., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Johnson, A., Karelin, A., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Leonard, D. S., Li, G. S., Li, S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D., Murray, K., Njoya, O., Odian, A., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retière, F., Robinson, A. L., Rowson, P. C., Schmidt, S., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Soma, A. K., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Veeraraghavan, V., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Waite, A., Watkins, J., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Xia, Q., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zeldovich, O. Ya.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: We apply deep neural networks (DNN) to data from the EXO-200 experiment. In the studied cases, the DNN is able to reconstruct the relevant parameters - total energy and position - directly from raw digitized waveforms, with minimal exceptions. For the first time, the developed algorithms are evaluated on real detector calibration data. The accuracy of reconstruction either reaches or exceeds what was achieved by the conventional approaches developed by EXO-200 over the course of the experiment. Most existing DNN approaches to event reconstruction and classification in particle physics are trained on Monte Carlo simulated events. Such algorithms are inherently limited by the accuracy of the simulation. We describe a unique approach that, in an experiment such as EXO-200, allows to successfully perform certain reconstruction and analysis tasks by training the network on waveforms from experimental data, either reducing or eliminating the reliance on the Monte Carlo., Comment: Accepted version. 33 pages, 28 figures
Published: 2018
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26. Search for nucleon decays with EXO-200

Author: Albert, J. B., Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Bayerlein, R., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hansen, E. V., Hoessl, J., Homiller, S., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Leonard, D. S., Li, G. S., Li, S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D., Murray, K., Nelson, R., Njoya, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retière, F., Robinson, A. L., Rowson, P. C., Schmidt, S., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Soma, A. K., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Waite, A., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., Zettlemoyer, J., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: A search for instability of nucleons bound in $^{136}$Xe nuclei is reported with 223 kg$\cdot$yr exposure of $^{136}$Xe in the EXO-200 experiment. Lifetime limits of 3.3$\times 10^{23}$ and 1.9$\times 10^{23}$ yrs are established for nucleon decay to $^{133}$Sb and $^{133}$Te, respectively. These are the most stringent to date, exceeding the prior decay limits by a factor of 9 and 7, respectively.
Published: 2017
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27. Sensitivity and discovery potential of the proposed nEXO experiment to neutrinoless double beta decay

Author: nEXO Collaboration, Albert, J. B., Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bourque, F., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Côté, M., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Dalmasson, J., Daniels, T., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., DeVoe, R., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Fabris, L., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fontaine, R., Fudenberg, D., Giacomini, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hansen, E. V., Harris, D., Hasan, M., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., Hößl, J., House, A., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Ito, Y., Iverson, A., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Leonard, D. S., Li, G., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D. C., Murray, K., Newby, R. J., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Odgers, K., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Ortega, G. S., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Pratte, J. -F., Qiu, D., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rao, T., Rescia, S., Retière, F., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., Schmidt, S., Schneider, J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., VIII, K. Skarpaas, Soma, A. K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Tsang, T., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Visser, G., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Wang, Q., Weber, M., Wei, W., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O., Zettlemoyer, J., Zhang, X., Zhao, J., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: The next-generation Enriched Xenon Observatory (nEXO) is a proposed experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay in $^{136}$Xe with a target half-life sensitivity of approximately $10^{28}$ years using $5\times10^3$ kg of isotopically enriched liquid-xenon in a time projection chamber. This improvement of two orders of magnitude in sensitivity over current limits is obtained by a significant increase of the $^{136}$Xe mass, the monolithic and homogeneous configuration of the active medium, and the multi-parameter measurements of the interactions enabled by the time projection chamber. The detector concept and anticipated performance are presented based upon demonstrated realizable background rates., Comment: v2 as published
Published: 2017
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28. Characterization of an Ionization Readout Tile for nEXO

Author: nEXO Collaboration, Jewell, M., Schubert, A., Cen, W. R., Dalmasson, J., DeVoe, R., Fabris, L., Gratta, G., Jamil, A., Li, G., Odian, A., Patel, M., Pocar, A., Qiu, D., Wang, Q., Wen, L. J., Albert, J. B., Anton, G., Arnquist, I. J., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P., Beck, D., Belov, V., Bourque, F., Brodsky, J. P., Brown, E., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Cao, L., Chambers, C., Charlebois, S. A., Chiu, M., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Côté, M., Daniels, T., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Ding, Y. Y., Dolinski, M. J., Dragone, A., Fairbank, W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fontaine, R., Fudenberg, D., Giacomini, G., Gornea, R., Hansen, E. V., Harris, D., Hasan, M., Heffner, M., Hoppe, E. W., House, A., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Hößl, J., Ito, Y., Iverson, A., Jiang, X. S., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Leonard, D. S., Li, S., Li, Z., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D., Murray, K., Newby, R. J., Ning, Z., Njoya, O., Nolet, F., Odgers, K., Oriunno, M., Orrell, J. L., Ostrovskiy, I., Overman, C. T., Ortega, G. S., Parent, S., Piepke, A., Pratte, J. -F., Radeka, V., Raguzin, E., Rao, T., Rescia, S., Retiere, F., Robinson, A., Rossignol, T., Rowson, P. C., Roy, N., Saldanha, R., Sangiorgio, S., Schmidt, S., Schneider, J., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Soma, A. K., St-Hilaire, G., Stekhanov, V., Stiegler, T., Sun, X. L., Tarka, M., Todd, J., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Tsang, T., Vachon, F., Veeraraghavan, V., Visser, G., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Weber, M., Wei, W., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Wu, S. X., Wu, W. H., Xuan, Z., Yang, L., Yayun, D., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O., Zhang, X., Zhao, J., Zhe, N., Zhou, Y., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: A new design for the anode of a time projection chamber, consisting of a charge-detecting "tile", is investigated for use in large scale liquid xenon detectors. The tile is produced by depositing 60 orthogonal metal charge-collecting strips, 3~mm wide, on a 10~\si{\cm} $\times$ 10~\si{\cm} fused-silica wafer. These charge tiles may be employed by large detectors, such as the proposed tonne-scale nEXO experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. Modular by design, an array of tiles can cover a sizable area. The width of each strip is small compared to the size of the tile, so a Frisch grid is not required. A grid-less, tiled anode design is beneficial for an experiment such as nEXO, where a wire tensioning support structure and Frisch grid might contribute radioactive backgrounds and would have to be designed to accommodate cycling to cryogenic temperatures. The segmented anode also reduces some degeneracies in signal reconstruction that arise in large-area crossed-wire time projection chambers. A prototype tile was tested in a cell containing liquid xenon. Very good agreement is achieved between the measured ionization spectrum of a $^{207}$Bi source and simulations that include the microphysics of recombination in xenon and a detailed modeling of the electrostatic field of the detector. An energy resolution $\sigma/E$=5.5\% is observed at 570~\si{keV}, comparable to the best intrinsic ionization-only resolution reported in literature for liquid xenon at 936~V/\si{cm}., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, as published
Published: 2017
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29. Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay with the Upgraded EXO-200 Detector

Author: Albert, J. B., Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Bayerlein, R., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hansen, E. V., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Leonard, D. S., Li, G. S., Li, S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D., Murray, K., Nelson, R., Njoya, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retière, F., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Schmidt, S., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Waite, A., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wrede, G., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., Zettlemoyer, J., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: Results from a search for neutrinoless double-beta decay $0\nu\beta\beta$ of $^{136}$Xe are presented using the first year of data taken with the upgraded EXO-200 detector. Relative to previous searches by EXO-200, the energy resolution of the detector has been improved to $\sigma/E$=1.23%, the electric field in the drift region has been raised by 50%, and a system to suppress radon in the volume between the cryostat and lead shielding has been implemented. In addition, analysis techniques that improve topological discrimination between $0\nu\beta\beta$ and background events have been developed. Incorporating these hardware and analysis improvements, the median 90% confidence level $0\nu\beta\beta$ half-life sensitivity after combining with the full data set acquired before the upgrade has increased 2-fold to $3.7 \times 10^{25}$ yr. No statistically significant evidence for $0\nu\beta\beta$ is observed, leading to a lower limit on the $0\nu\beta\beta$ half-life of $1.8\times10^{25}$ yr at the 90% confidence level., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, final version submitted to PRL
Published: 2017
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30. Searches for Double Beta Decay of $^{134}$Xe with EXO-200

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Albert, J. B., Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Bayerlein, R., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Leonard, D. S., Li, S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D., Murray, K., Nelson, R., Njoya, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retière, F., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Wagenpfeil, M., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., Zettlemoyer, J., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: Searches for double beta decay of $^{134}$Xe were performed with EXO-200, a single-phase liquid xenon detector designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe. Using an exposure of $29.6\text{ kg}\!\cdot\!\text{yr}$, the lower limits of $\text{T}_{1/2}^{2\nu\beta\!\beta}>8.7\cdot10^{20}\text{ yr}$ and $\text{T}_{1/2}^{0\nu\beta\!\beta}>1.1\cdot10^{23}\text{ yr}$ at 90% confidence level were derived, with corresponding half-life sensitivities of $1.2\cdot10^{21}\text{ yr}$ and $1.9\cdot10^{23}\text{ yr}$. These limits exceed those in the literature for $^{134}$Xe, improving by factors of nearly $10^{5}$ and 2 for the two antineutrino and neutrinoless modes, respectively., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures
Published: 2017
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31. Trace radioactive impurities in final construction materials for EXO-200

Author: Leonard, D. S., Auty, D., Didberidze, T., Gornea, R., Grinberg, P., MacLellan, R., Methven, B., Piepke, A., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Albert, J. B., Anton, G., Badhrees, I., Barbeau, P. S., Bayerlein, R., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Cree, W., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Herrin, S., Hoessl, J., Hufschmidt, P., Hughes, M., Jamil, A., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Johntson, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., LePort, F., Li, S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Mackay, D., Marino, M. G., Michel, T., Mong, B., Moore, D., Murray, K., Neilson, R., Nelson, R., Njoya, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Pocar, A., Pushkin, K., Retière, F., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Wagenpfeil, M., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Wamba, K., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wodin, J., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., Zettlemoyer, J., and Ziegler, T.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: We report results from a systematic measurement campaign conducted to identify low radioactivity materials for the construction of the EXO-200 double beta decay experiment. Partial results from this campaign have already been reported in a 2008 paper by the EXO collaboration. Here we release the remaining data, collected since 2007, to the public. The data reported were obtained using a variety of analytic techniques. The measurement sensitivities are among the best in the field. Construction of the EXO-200 detector has been concluded, and Phase-I data was taken from 2011 to 2014. The detector's extremely low background implicitly verifies the measurements and the analysis assumptions made during construction and reported in this paper., Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures
Published: 2017
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32. The Heavy Photon Search beamline and its performance

Author: Baltzell, N., Egiyan, H., Ehrhart, M., Field, C., Freyberger, A., Girod, F. -X., Holtrop, M., Jaros, J., Kalicy, G., Maruyama, T., McKinnon, B., Moffeit, K., Nelson, T., Odian, A., Oriunno, M., Paremuzyan, R., Stepanyan, S., Tiefenback, M., Uemura, S., Ungaro, M., and Vance, H.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: The Heavy Photon Search (HPS) is an experiment to search for a hidden sector photon, aka a heavy photon or dark photon, in fixed target electroproduction at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). The HPS experiment searches for the e$^+$e$^-$ decay of the heavy photon with bump hunt and detached vertex strategies using a compact, large acceptance forward spectrometer, consisting of a silicon microstrip detector (SVT) for tracking and vertexing, and a PbWO$_4$ electromagnetic calorimeter for energy measurement and fast triggering. To achieve large acceptance and good vertexing resolution, the first layer of silicon detectors is placed just 10 cm downstream of the target with the sensor edges only 500 $\mu$m above and below the beam. Placing the SVT in such close proximity to the beam puts stringent requirements on the beam profile and beam position stability. As part of an approved engineering run, HPS took data in 2015 and 2016 at 1.05 GeV and 2.3 GeV beam energies, respectively. This paper describes the beam line and its performance during that data taking.
Published: 2016
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33. Measurement of the Drift Velocity and Transverse Diffusion of Electrons in Liquid Xenon with the EXO-200 Detector

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Albert, J. B., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Daughhetee, J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hughes, M., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krucken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Lan, Y., Leonard, D. S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Moore, D., Njoya, O., Nelson, R., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Retiere, F., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Twelker, K., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wood, J., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., and Zettlemoyer, J.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment
Abstract: The EXO-200 Collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double beta decay using a liquid xenon (LXe) time projection chamber. This measurement relies on modeling the transport of charge deposits produced by interactions in the LXe to allow discrimination between signal and background events. Here we present measurements of the transverse diffusion constant and drift velocity of electrons at drift fields between 20~V/cm and 615~V/cm using EXO-200 data. At the operating field of 380~V/cm EXO-200 measures a drift velocity of 1.705$_{-0.010}^{+0.014}$~mm/$\mu$s and a transverse diffusion coefficient of 55$\pm$4~cm$^2$/s., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, added minor clarifications recommended by the reviewer on E-field non-uniformities, minor edits to formatting of figures to conform with journal requirements
Published: 2016
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34. An Optimal Energy Estimator to Reduce Correlated Noise for the EXO-200 Light Readout

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Davis, C. G., Hall, C., Albert, J. B., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Cen, W. R., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hughes, M., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Ling, J., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Moore, D., Njoya, O., Nelson, R., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Retière, F., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Twelker, K., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wood, J., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zeldovich, O. Ya.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: The energy resolution of the EXO-200 detector is limited by electronics noise in the measurement of the scintillation response. Here we present a new technique to extract optimal scintillation energy measurements for signals split across multiple channels in the presence of correlated noise. The implementation of these techniques improves the energy resolution of the detector at the neutrinoless double beta decay Q-value from $\left[1.9641\pm 0.0039\right]\%$ to $\left[1.5820\pm 0.0044\right]\%$., Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 1 table
Published: 2016
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35. First Search for Lorentz and CPT Violation in Double Beta Decay with EXO-200

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Albert, J. B., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, C. G., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Díaz, J. S., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feyzbkhsh, S., Feldmeier, W., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Homiller, S., Hughes, M., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Lin, Y. H., Ling, J., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Moore, D., Nelson, R., Njoya, O., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Retiére, F., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Twelker, K., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Vogel, P., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wood, J., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zeldovich, O. Ya.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract: A search for Lorentz- and CPT-violating signals in the double beta decay spectrum of $^{136}$Xe has been performed using an exposure of 100 kg$\cdot$yr with the EXO-200 detector. No significant evidence of the spectral modification due to isotropic Lorentz-violation was found, and a two-sided limit of $-2.65 \times 10^{-5 } \; \textrm{GeV} < \mathring{a}^{(3)}_{\text{of}} < 7.60 \times 10^{-6} \; \textrm{GeV}$ (90% C.L.) is placed on the relevant coefficient within the Standard-Model Extension (SME). This is the first experimental study of the effect of the SME-defined oscillation-free and momentum-independent neutrino coupling operator on the double beta decay process., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures
Published: 2016
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36. Cosmogenic Backgrounds to 0{\nu}{\beta}{\beta} in EXO-200

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Albert, J. B., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr, W., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Herrin, S., Hughes, M., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Ling, J., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Moore, D., Njoya, O., Nelson, R., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Retière, F., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Twelker, K., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wood, J., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zeldovich, O. Ya.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: As neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments become more sensitive and intrinsic radioactivity in detector materials is reduced, previously minor contributions to the background must be understood and eliminated. With this in mind, cosmogenic backgrounds have been studied with the EXO-200 experiment. Using the EXO-200 TPC, the muon flux (through a flat horizontal surface) underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) has been measured to be {\Phi} = 4.07 $\pm$ 0.14 (sys) $\pm$ 0.03 (stat) $\times$ $10^{-7}$cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, with a vertical intensity of $I_{v}$ = 2.97$^{+0.14}_{-0.13}$ (sys) $\pm$ 0.02 (stat) $\times$ $10^{-7}$cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ sr$^{-1}$. Simulations of muon-induced backgrounds identified several potential cosmogenic radionuclides, though only 137Xe is a significant background for the 136Xe 0{\nu}{\beta}{\beta} search with EXO-200. Muon-induced neutron backgrounds were measured using {\gamma}-rays from neutron capture on the detector materials. This provided a measurement of 137Xe yield, and a test of the accuracy of the neutron production and transport simulations. The independently measured rates of 136Xe neutron capture and of 137Xe decay agree within uncertainties. Geant4 and FLUKA simulations were performed to estimate neutron capture rates, and these estimates agreed to within ~40% or better with measurements. The ability to identify 136Xe(n,{\gamma}) events will allow for rejection of 137Xe backgrounds in future 0{\nu}{\beta}{\beta} analyses., Comment: Published in JCAP, 29 pages, 13 figures
Published: 2015
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37. Search for $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay of $^{136}$Xe to the 0$_1^+$ excited state of $^{136}$Ba with EXO-200

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Albert, J. B., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Chambers, C., Chaves, J., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Feyzbakhsh, S., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hughes, M., Jewell, M. J., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., King, J., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Ling, J., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Moore, D., Njoya, O., Nelson, R., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Retière, F., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Twelker, K., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Winick, T. A., Wood, J., Xu, Q. Y., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zeldovich, O. Ya.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, High Energy Physics - Experiment
Abstract: EXO-200 is a single phase liquid xenon detector designed to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe to the ground state of $^{136}$Ba. We report here on a search for the two-neutrino double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe to the first $0^+$ excited state, $0^+_1$, of $^{136}$Ba based on a 100 kg$\cdot$yr exposure of $^{136}$Xe. Using a specialized analysis employing a machine learning algorithm, we obtain a 90% CL half-life sensitivity of $1.7 \times 10^{24}$ yr. We find no statistically significant evidence for the $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay to the excited state resulting in a lower limit of $T^{2\nu}_{1/2}$ ($0^+ \rightarrow 0^+_1$) $> 6.9 \times 10^{23}$ yr at 90% CL. This observed limit is consistent with the estimated half-life of $2.5\times10^{25}$ yr., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables
Published: 2015
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38. Measurements of the ion fraction and mobility of alpha and beta decay products in liquid xenon using EXO-200

Author: Albert, J. B., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, C. G., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hughes, M., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Ling, J., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Moore, D., Nelson, R., O'Sullivan, K., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Robinson, A., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Twelker, K., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wright, J. D., Wood, J., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zeldovich, O. Ya.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: Alpha decays in the EXO-200 detector are used to measure the fraction of charged $^{218}\mathrm{Po}$ and $^{214}\mathrm{Bi}$ daughters created from alpha and beta decays, respectively. $^{222}\mathrm{Rn}$ alpha decays in liquid xenon (LXe) are found to produce $^{218}\mathrm{Po}^{+}$ ions $50.3 \pm 3.0\%$ of the time, while the remainder of the $^{218}\mathrm{Po}$ atoms are neutral. The fraction of $^{214}\mathrm{Bi}^{+}$ from $^{214}\mathrm{Pb}$ beta decays in LXe is found to be $76.4 \pm 5.7\%$, inferred from the relative rates of $^{218}\mathrm{Po}$ and $^{214}\mathrm{Po}$ alpha decays in the LXe. The average velocity of $^{218}\mathrm{Po}$ ions is observed to decrease for longer drift times. Initially the ions have a mobility of $0.390 \pm 0.006~\mathrm{cm}^2/(\mathrm{kV}~\mathrm{s})$, and at long drift times the mobility is $0.219 \pm 0.004~\mathrm{cm}^2/(\mathrm{kV}~\mathrm{s})$. Time constants associated with the change in mobility during drift of the $^{218}\mathrm{Po}^{+}$ ions are found to be proportional to the electron lifetime in the LXe.
Published: 2015
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39. Investigation of radioactivity-induced backgrounds in EXO-200

Author: Albert, J. B., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Belov, V., Benitez-Medina, C., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, C. G., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Herrin, S., Hughes, M., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Ling, J., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Moore, D., Nelson, R., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Rivas, A., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tsang, R., Twelker, K., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wood, J., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zeldovich, O. Ya.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: The search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0{\nu}{\beta}{\beta}) requires extremely low background and a good understanding of their sources and their influence on the rate in the region of parameter space relevant to the 0{\nu}{\beta}{\beta} signal. We report on studies of various {\beta}- and {\gamma}-backgrounds in the liquid- xenon-based EXO-200 0{\nu}{\beta}{\beta} experiment. With this work we try to better understand the location and strength of specific background sources and compare the conclusions to radioassay results taken before and during detector construction. Finally, we discuss the implications of these studies for EXO-200 as well as for the next-generation, tonne-scale nEXO detector., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables
Published: 2015
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40. An RF-only ion-funnel for extraction from high-pressure gases

Author: Brunner, Thomas, Fudenberg, Daniel, Varentsov, Victor, Sabourov, Amanda, Gratta, Giorgio, Dilling, Jens, DeVoe, Ralph, Sinclair, David, Fairbank Jr., William, Albert, Joshua B, Auty, David J, Barbeau, Phil S, Beck, Douglas, Benitez-Medina, Cesar, Breidenbach, Martin, Cao, Guofu F, Chambers, Christopher, Cleveland, Bruce, Coon, Matthew, Craycraft, Adam, Daniels, Timothy, Daugherty, Sean J, Didberidze, Tamar, Dolinski, Michelle J, Dunford, Matthew, Fabris, Lorenzo, Farine, Jacques, Feldmeier, Wolfhart, Fierlinger, Peter, Gornea, Razvan, Graham, Kevin, Heffner, Mike, Hughes, Mitchell, Jewell, Michael, Jiang, Xiaoshan S, Johnson, Tessa N, Johnston, Sereres, Karelin, Alexander, Kaufman, Lisa J, Killick, Ryan, Koffas, Thomas, Kravitz, Scott, Kruecken, Reiner, Kuchenkov, Alexey, Kumar, Krishna S, Leonard, Douglas S, Leonard, Francois, Licciardi, Caio, Lin, Yi-Hsuan H, Ling, Jiajie, MacLellan, Ryan, Marino, Michael G, Mong, Brian, Moore, David, Odian, Allen, Ostrovskiy, Igor, Ouellet, Christian, Piepke, Andreas, Pocar, Andrea, Retiere, Fabrice, Rowson, Peter C, Rozo, Maria P, Schubert, Alexis, Smith, Erica, Stekhanov, Victor, Tarka, Michal, Tolba, Tamer, Tosi, Delia, Twelker, Karl, Vuilleumier, Jean-Luc L, Walton, Josiah, Walton, Timothy, Weber, Manuel, Wen, Liangjian J, Wichoski, Ubi, Yang, Liang, and Yen, Yung-Ruey
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: An RF ion-funnel technique has been developed to extract ions from a high-pressure (10 bar) noble-gas environment into vacuum ($10^{-6}$ mbar). Detailed simulations have been performed and a prototype has been developed for the purpose of extracting $^{136}$Ba ions from Xe gas with high efficiency. With this prototype, ions have been extracted for the first time from high-pressure xenon gas and argon gas. Systematic studies have been carried out and compared to the simulations. This demonstration of extraction of ions with mass comparable to that of the gas generating the high-pressure into vacuum has applications to Ba tagging from a Xe-gas time-projection chamber (TPC) for double beta decay as well as to the general problem of recovering trace amounts of an ionized element in a heavy (m$>40$ u) carrier gas.
Published: 2014
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41. Spectroscopy of Ba and Ba$^+$ deposits in solid xenon for barium tagging in nEXO

Author: Mong, B., Cook, S., Walton, T., Chambers, C., Craycraft, A., Benitez-Medina, C., Hall, K., Fairbank Jr., W., Albert, J. B., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Basque, V., Beck, D., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Daniels, T., Daugherty, S. J., DeVoe, R., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fabris, L., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Heffner, M., Hughes, M., Jiang, X. S., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Krucken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Ling, J., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Moore, D., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retiere, F., Rowson, P. C., Rozo, M. P., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Twelker, K., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Walton, J., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zhao, Y. B.
Subjects: Physics - Atomic Physics, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: Progress on a method of barium tagging for the nEXO double beta decay experiment is reported. Absorption and emission spectra for deposits of barium atoms and ions in solid xenon matrices are presented. Excitation spectra for prominent emission lines, temperature dependence and bleaching of the fluorescence reveal the existence of different matrix sites. A regular series of sharp lines observed in Ba$^+$ deposits is identified with some type of barium hydride molecule. Lower limits for the fluorescence quantum efficiency of the principal Ba emission transition are reported. Under current conditions, an image of $\le10^4$ Ba atoms can be obtained. Prospects for imaging single Ba atoms in solid xenon are discussed.
Published: 2014
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42. Search for Majoron-emitting modes of double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe with EXO-200

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Albert, J. B., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Beauchamp, E., Beck, D., Belov, V., Benitez-Medina, C., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Chambers, C., Chaves, J., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, C. G., Davis, J., DeVoe, R., Delaquis, S., Didberidze, T., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Herrin, S., Hughes, M., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Leonard, F., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., Ling, J., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Moore, D., Nelson, R., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Ouellet, C., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Rivas, A., Rowson, P. C., Rozo, M. P., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tosi, D., Tsang, R., Twelker, K., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zeldovich, O. Ya.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: EXO-200 is a single phase liquid xenon detector designed to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe. Here we report on a search for various Majoron-emitting modes based on 100 kg$\cdot$yr exposure of $^{136}$Xe. A lower limit of $T^{^{136}Xe}_{1/2} >1.2 \cdot 10^{24}$ yr at 90% C.L. on the half-life of the spectral index = 1 Majoron decay was obtained, corresponding to a constraint on the Majoron-neutrino coupling constant of $|< g^{M}_{ee} >|<$ (0.8-1.7)$\cdot$10$^{-5}$., Comment: Published in PRD. Version 2: Referee comments addressed, journal reference added
Published: 2014
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43. An apparatus to manipulate and identify individual Ba ions from bulk liquid Xe

Author: Twelker, K., Kravitz, S., Díez, M. Montero, Gratta, G., Fairbank Jr., W., Albert, J. B., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Beck, D., Benitez-Medina, C., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Cao, G. F., Chambers, C., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, C. G., DeVoe, R., Delaquis, S., Didberidze, T., Dilling, J., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fabris, L., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Hall, C., Heffner, M., Herrin, S., Hughes, M., Jiang, X. S., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Krücken, R., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Leonard, F., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Moore, D., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Ouellet, C., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Retiere, F., Rowson, P. C., Rozo, M. P., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tosi, D., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zhao, Y. B.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: We describe a system to transport and identify barium ions produced in liquid xenon, as part of R&D towards the second phase of a double beta decay experiment, nEXO. The goal is to identify the Ba ion resulting from an extremely rare nuclear decay of the isotope $^{136}$Xe, hence providing a confirmation of the occurrence of the decay. This is achieved through Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (RIS). In the test setup described here, Ba ions can be produced in liquid xenon or vacuum and collected on a clean substrate. This substrate is then removed to an analysis chamber under vacuum, where laser-induced thermal desorption and RIS are used with time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectroscopy for positive identification of the barium decay product., Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures
Published: 2014
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44. The Heavy Photon Search Test Detector

Author: Battaglieri, Marco, Boyarinov, Sergey, Bueltmann, Stephen, Burkert, Volker, Celentano, Andrea, Charles, Gabriel, Cooper, William, Cuevas, Chris, Dashyan, Natalia, DeVita, Raffaella, Desnault, Camille, Deur, Alexandre, Egiyan, Hovanes, Elouadrhiri, Latifa, Essig, Rouven, Fadeyev, Vitaliy, Field, Clive, Freyberger, Arne, Gershtein, Yuri, Gevorgyan, Nerses, Girod, Francois-Xavier, Graf, Norman, Graham, Mathew, Griffioen, Keith, Grillo, Alexander, Guidal, Michel, Haller, Gunther, Adrian, Per Hansson, Herbst, Ryan, Holtrop, Maurik, Jaros, John, Kaneta, Scott, Khandaker, Mahbub, Kubarovsky, Alexey, Kubarovsky, Valery, Maruyama, Takashi, McCormick, Jeremy, Moffeit, Ken, Moreno, Omar, Neal, Homer, Nelson, Timothy, Niccolai, Silvia, Odian, Al, Oriunno, Marco, Paremuzyan, Rafayel, Partridge, Richard, Phillips, Sarah, Rauly, Emmanuel, Raydo, Benjamin, Reichert, Joseph, Rindel, Emmanuel, Rosier, Philippe, Salgado, Carlos, Schuster, Philip, Sharabian, Youri, Sokhan, Daria, Stepanyan, Stepan, Toro, Natalia, Uemura, Sho, Ungaro, Maurizio, Voskanyan, Hakop, Walz, Dieter, Weinstein, Larry, and Wojtsekhowski, Bogdan
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment
Abstract: The Heavy Photon Search (HPS), an experiment to search for a hidden sector photon in fixed target electroproduction, is preparing for installation at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in the Fall of 2014. As the first stage of this project, the HPS Test Run apparatus was constructed and operated in 2012 to demonstrate the experiment's technical feasibility and to confirm that the trigger rates and occupancies are as expected. This paper describes the HPS Test Run apparatus and readout electronics and its performance. In this setting, a heavy photon can be identified as a narrow peak in the e$^+$e$^-$ invariant mass spectrum, above the trident background or as a narrow invariant mass peak with a decay vertex displaced from the production target, so charged particle tracking and vertexing are needed for its detection. In the HPS Test Run, charged particles are measured with a compact forward silicon microstrip tracker inside a dipole magnet. Electromagnetic showers are detected in a PbW0$_{4}$ crystal calorimeter situated behind the magnet, and are used to trigger the experiment and identify electrons and positrons. Both detectors are placed close to the beam line and split top-bottom. This arrangement provides sensitivity to low-mass heavy photons, allows clear passage of the unscattered beam, and avoids the spray of degraded electrons coming from the target. The discrimination between prompt and displaced e$^+$e$^-$ pairs requires the first layer of silicon sensors be placed only 10~cm downstream of the target. The expected signal is small, and the trident background huge, so the experiment requires very large statistics. Accordingly, the HPS Test Run utilizes high-rate readout and data acquisition electronics and a fast trigger to exploit the essentially 100% duty cycle of the CEBAF accelerator at JLab., Comment: Revised version to match published version, 16 pages, 18 figures, published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, editor: Per Hansson Adrian
Published: 2014
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45. Search for Majorana neutrinos with the first two years of EXO-200 data

Author: Collaboration, EXO-200, Albert, J. B., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Beauchamp, E., Beck, D., Belov, V., Benitez-Medina, C., Bonatt, J., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Chambers, C., Chaves, J., Cleveland, B., Coon, M., Craycraft, A., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, C. G., Davis, J., DeVoe, R., Delaquis, S., Didberidze, T., Dolgolenko, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Fierlinger, P., Fudenberg, D., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Herrin, S., Hughes, M., Jewell, M. J., Jiang, X. S., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Koffas, T., Kravitz, S., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Leonard, F., Licciardi, C., Lin, Y. H., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Moore, D., Nelson, R., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., Ouellet, C., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Rivas, A., Rowson, P. C., Rozo, M. P., Russell, J. J., Schubert, A., Sinclair, D., Slutsky, S., Smith, E., Stekhanov, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tosi, D., Twelker, K., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wright, J. D., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., and Zhao, Y. B.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: Many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics suggest that neutrinos should be Majorana-type fermions, but this assumption is difficult to confirm. Observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay ($0\nu \beta \beta$), a spontaneous transition that may occur in several candidate nuclei, would verify the Majorana nature of the neutrino and constrain the absolute scale of the neutrino mass spectrum. Recent searches carried out with $^{76}$Ge (GERDA experiment) and $^{136}$Xe (KamLAND-Zen and EXO-200 experiments) have established the lifetime of this decay to be longer than $10^{25}$ yr, corresponding to a limit on the neutrino mass of 0.2-0.4 eV. Here we report new results from EXO-200 based on 100 kg$\cdot$yr of $^{136}$Xe exposure, representing an almost fourfold increase from our earlier published datasets. We have improved the detector resolution at the $^{136}$Xe double-beta-decay Q-value to $\sigma$/E = 1.53% and revised the data analysis. The obtained half-life sensitivity is $1.9\cdot10^{25}$ yr, an improvement by a factor of 2.7 compared to previous EXO-200 results. We find no statistically significant evidence for $0\nu \beta \beta$ decay and set a half-life limit of $1.1\cdot10^{25}$ yr at 90% CL. The high sensitivity holds promise for further running of the EXO-200 detector and future $0\nu \beta \beta$ decay searches with nEXO., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures
Published: 2014
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46. An improved measurement of the 2\nu \beta \beta\ half-life of Xe-136 with EXO-200

Author: Albert, J. B., Auger, M., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Beauchamp, E., Beck, D., Belov, V., Benitez-Medina, C., Bonatt, J., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cao, G. F., Chambers, C., Chaves, J., Cleveland, B., Cook, S., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Daugherty, S. J., Davis, C. G., Davis, J., Delaquis, S., DeVoe, R., Dobi, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dolgolenko, A., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Fierlinger, P., Franco, D., Fudenberg, D., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hall, K., Hargrove, C., Herrin, S., Hughes, M., Jiang, X. S., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Johnston, S., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Killick, R., Kravitz, S., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Leonard, F., Licciardi, C., MacLellan, R., Marino, M. G., Mong, B., Díez, M. Montero, Moore, D., Nelson, R., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., O'Sullivan, K., Ouellet, C., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Rivas, A., Rowson, P. C., Rozo, M. P., Russell, J. J., Sabourov, A., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Slutsky, S., Stekhanov, V., Strickland, V., Tarka, M., Tolba, T., Tosi, D., Twelker, K., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Waite, A., Walton, J., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wen, L. J., Wichoski, U., Wodin, J., Wright, J. D., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., Zeldovich, O. Ya., and Zhao, Y. B.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: We report on an improved measurement of the 2\nu \beta \beta\ half-life of Xe-136 performed by EXO-200. The use of a large and homogeneous time projection chamber allows for the precise estimate of the fiducial mass used for the measurement, resulting in a small systematic uncertainty. We also discuss in detail the data analysis methods used for double-beta decay searches with EXO-200, while emphasizing those directly related to the present measurement. The Xe-136 2\nu \beta \beta\ half-life is found to be 2.165 +- 0.016 (stat) +- 0.059 (sys) x 10^21 years. This is the most precisely measured half-life of any 2\nu \beta \beta\ decay to date., Comment: 34 pages, 32 figures, Updated to published version
Published: 2013
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47. Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay in $^{136}$Xe with EXO-200

Author: Auger, M., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Beauchamp, E., Belov, V., Benitez-Medina, C., Breidenbach, M., Brunner, T., Burenkov, A., Cleveland, B., Cook, S., Daniels, T., Danilov, M., Davis, C. G., Delaquis, S., deVoe, R., Dobi, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dolgolenko, A., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Feldmeier, W., Fierlinger, P., Franco, D., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hall, C., Hall, K., Hargrove, C., Herrin, S., Hughes, M., Johnson, A., Johnson, T. N., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Leonard, F., Mackay, D., MacLellan, R., Marino, M., Mong, B., Diez, M. Montero, Muller, A. R., Neilson, R., Nelson, R., Odian, A., Ostrovskiy, I., O'Sullivan, K., Ouellet, C., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Pushkin, K., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Sabourov, A., Sinclair, D., Slutsky, S., Stekhanov, V., Tolba, T., Tosi, D., Twelker, K., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Waite, A., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wichoski, U., Wodin, J., Wright, J. D., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zeldovich, O. Ya.
Subjects: High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: We report on a search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe with EXO-200. No signal is observed for an exposure of 32.5 kg-yr, with a background of ~1.5 x 10^{-3} /(kg yr keV) in the $\pm 1\sigma$ region of interest. This sets a lower limit on the half-life of the neutrinoless double-beta decay $T_{1/2}^{0\nu\beta\beta}$($^{136}$Xe) > 1.6 x 10$^{25}$ yr (90% CL), corresponding to effective Majorana masses of less than 140-380 meV, depending on the matrix element calculation.
Published: 2012
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48. The EXO-200 detector, part I: Detector design and construction

Author: Auger, M., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Bartoszek, L., Baussan, E., Beauchamp, E., Benitez-Medina, C., Breidenbach, M., Chauhan, D., Cleveland, B., Conley, R., Cook, J., Cook, S., Coppens, A., Craddock, W., Daniels, T., Davis, C. G., Davis, J., deVoe, R., Dobi, A., Dolinski, M. J., Dunford, M., Fairbank Jr, W., Farine, J., Fierlinger, P., Franco, D., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Hagemann, C., Hall, C., Hall, K., Hargrove, C., Herrin, S., Hodgson, J., Hughes, M., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Kirk, J., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Leonard, F., LePort, F., Mackay, D., MacLellan, R., Marino, M., Merkle, K., Mong, B., Díez, M. Montero, Müller, A. R., Neilson, R., Odian, A., O'Sullivan, K., Ouellet, C., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Pushkin, K., Rivas, A., Rollin, E., Rowson, P. C., Sabourov, A., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Slutsky, S., Stekhanov, V., Strickland, V., Swift, M., Tosi, D., Twelker, K., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Vuilleumier, J. -M., Walton, T., Weber, M., Wichoski, U., Wodin, J., Wright, J. D., Yang, L., and Yen, Y. -R.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: EXO-200 is an experiment designed to search for double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe with a single-phase, liquid xenon detector. It uses an active mass of 110 kg of xenon enriched to 80.6% in the isotope 136 in an ultra-low background time projection chamber capable of simultaneous detection of ionization and scintillation. This paper describes the EXO-200 detector with particular attention to the most innovative aspects of the design that revolve around the reduction of backgrounds, the efficient use of the expensive isotopically enriched xenon, and the optimization of the energy resolution in a relatively large volume.
Published: 2012
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49. Xenon purity analysis for EXO-200 via mass spectrometry

Author: Dobi, A., Hall, C., Slutsky, S., Yen, Y. -R., Aharmin, B., Auger, M., Barbeau, P. S., Benitez-Medina, C., Breidenbach, M., Cleveland, B., Conley, R., Cook, J., Cook, S., Counts, I., Craddock, W., Daniels, T., Davis, C. G., Davis, J., deVoe, R., Dixit, M., Dolinski, M. J., Donato, K., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Fierlinger, P., Franco, D., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Green, C., Hagemann, C., Hall, K., Hallman, D., Hargrove, C., Herrin, S., Hughes, M., Hodgson, J., Juget, F., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, K., Leonard, D. S., Lutter, G., Mackay, D., MacLellan, R., Marino, M., Mong, B., Díez, M. Montero, Morgan, P., Müller, A. R., Neilson, R., Odian, A., O'Sullivan, K., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Pushkin, K., Rivas, A., Rollin, E., Rowson, P. C., Sabourov, A., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Stekhanov, V., Strickland, V., Swift, M., Twelker, K., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Vuilleumier, J. -M., Weber, M., Wichoski, U., Wodin, J., Wright, J. D., and Yang, L.
Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, Nuclear Experiment
Abstract: We describe purity measurements of the natural and enriched xenon stockpiles used by the EXO-200 double beta decay experiment based on a mass spectrometry technique. The sensitivity of the spectrometer is enhanced by several orders of magnitude by the presence of a liquid nitrogen cold trap, and many impurity species of interest can be detected at the level of one part-per-billion or better. We have used the technique to screen the EXO-200 xenon before, during, and after its use in our detector, and these measurements have proven useful. This is the first application of the cold trap mass spectrometry technique to an operating physics experiment., Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures
Published: 2011
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50. Observation of Two-Neutrino Double-Beta Decay in Xe-136 with EXO-200

Author: Ackerman, N., Aharmim, B., Auger, M., Auty, D. J., Barbeau, P. S., Barry, K., Bartoszek, L., Beauchamp, E., Belov, V., Benitez-Medina, C., Breidenbach, M., Burenkov, A., Cleveland, B., Conley, R., Conti, E., Cook, J., Cook, S., Coppens, A., Counts, I., Craddock, W., Daniels, T., Danilov, M. V., Davis, C. G., Davis, J., deVoe, R., Djurcic, Z., Dobi, A., Dolgolenko, A. G., Dolinski, M. J., Donato, K., Fairbank Jr., W., Farine, J., Fierlinger, P., Franco, D., Freytag, D., Giroux, G., Gornea, R., Graham, K., Gratta, G., Green, M. P., Hagemann, C., Hall, C., Hall, K., Haller, G., Hargrove, C., Herbst, R., Herrin, S., Hodgson, J., Hughes, M., Johnson, A., Karelin, A., Kaufman, L. J., Koffas, T., Kuchenkov, A., Kumar, A., Kumar, K. S., Leonard, D. S., Leonard, F., LePort, F., Mackay, D., MacLellan, R., Marino, M., Martin, Y., Mong, B., Diez, M. Montero, Morgan, P., Muller, A. R., Neilson, R., Nelson, R., Odian, A., O'Sullivan, K., Ouellet, C., Piepke, A., Pocar, A., Prescott, C. Y., Pushkin, K., Rivas, A., Rollin, E., Rowson, P. C., Russell, J. J., Sabourov, A., Sinclair, D., Skarpaas, K., Slutsky, S., Stekhanov, V., Strickland, V., Swift, M., Tosi, D., Twelker, K., Vogel, P., Vuilleumier, J. -L., Vuilleumier, J. -M., Waite, A., Waldman, S., Walton, T., Wamba, K., Weber, M., Wichoski, U., Wodin, J., Wright, J. D., Yang, L., Yen, Y. -R., and Zeldovich, O. Ya.
Subjects: Nuclear Experiment, High Energy Physics - Experiment, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Abstract: We report the observation of two-neutrino double-beta decay in Xe-136 with T_1/2 = 2.11 +- 0.04 (stat.) +- 0.21 (sys.) x 10^21 yr. This second order process, predicted by the Standard Model, has been observed for several nuclei but not for Xe-136. The observed decay rate provides new input to matrix element calculations and to the search for the more interesting neutrino-less double-beta decay, the most sensitive probe for the existence of Majorana particles and the measurement of the neutrino mass scale.
Published: 2011
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