The search for a novel technology able to detect and reconstruct nuclear recoil events in the keV energy range has become more and more important as long as vast regions of high mass WIMP-like Dark Matter candidate have been excluded. Gaseous Time Projection Chambers (TPC) with optical readout are very promising candidate combining the complete event information provided by the TPC technique to the high sensitivity and granularity of last generation scientific light sensors. A TPC with an amplification at the anode obtained with Gas Electron Multipliers (GEM) was tested at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati. Photons and neutrons from radioactive sources were employed to induce recoiling nuclei and electrons with kinetic energy in the range [1-100] keV. A He-CF4 (60/40) gas mixture was used at atmospheric pressure and the light produced during the multiplication in the GEM channels was acquired by a high position resolution and low noise scientific CMOS camera and a photomultiplier. A multi-stage pattern recognition algorithm based on an advanced clustering technique is presented here. A number of cluster shape observables are used to identify nuclear recoils induced by neutrons originated from a AmBe source against X-ray 55Fe photo-electrons. An efficiency of 18% to detect nuclear recoils with an energy of about 6 keV is reached obtaining at the same time a 96% 55Fe photo-electrons suppression. This makes this optically readout gas TPC a very promising candidate for future investigations of ultra-rare events as directional direct Dark Matter searches.

Identification of low energy nuclear recoils in a gas TPC with optical readout / Baracchini, Elisabetta; Benussi, Luigi; Bianco, Stefano; Capoccia, Cesidio; Caponero, Michele Arturo; Cavoto, Gianluca; Cortez, André; Abritta Costa, Igor; Di Marco, Emanuele; D'Imperio, Giulia; Dho, Giorgio; Iacoangeli, Fabrizio; Maccarrone, Giovanni; Marafini, Michela; Mazzitelli, Giovanni; Messina, Andrea; Antunes Nobrega, Rafael; Orlandi, Aldo; Paoletti, Emiliano; Passamonti, Luciano; Petrucci, Fabrizio; Piccolo, Davide; Pierluigi, Daniele; Pinci, Davide; Renga, Francesco; Rosatelli, Filippo; Russo, Alessandro; Saviano, Giovanna; Tesauro, Roberto; Tomassini, Sandro. - In: MEASUREMENT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. - ISSN 0957-0233. - 32:2(2020). [10.1088/1361-6501/abbd12]

Identification of low energy nuclear recoils in a gas TPC with optical readout

Cavoto, Gianluca;D'Imperio, Giulia;Messina, Andrea;Saviano, Giovanna;
2020

Abstract

The search for a novel technology able to detect and reconstruct nuclear recoil events in the keV energy range has become more and more important as long as vast regions of high mass WIMP-like Dark Matter candidate have been excluded. Gaseous Time Projection Chambers (TPC) with optical readout are very promising candidate combining the complete event information provided by the TPC technique to the high sensitivity and granularity of last generation scientific light sensors. A TPC with an amplification at the anode obtained with Gas Electron Multipliers (GEM) was tested at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati. Photons and neutrons from radioactive sources were employed to induce recoiling nuclei and electrons with kinetic energy in the range [1-100] keV. A He-CF4 (60/40) gas mixture was used at atmospheric pressure and the light produced during the multiplication in the GEM channels was acquired by a high position resolution and low noise scientific CMOS camera and a photomultiplier. A multi-stage pattern recognition algorithm based on an advanced clustering technique is presented here. A number of cluster shape observables are used to identify nuclear recoils induced by neutrons originated from a AmBe source against X-ray 55Fe photo-electrons. An efficiency of 18% to detect nuclear recoils with an energy of about 6 keV is reached obtaining at the same time a 96% 55Fe photo-electrons suppression. This makes this optically readout gas TPC a very promising candidate for future investigations of ultra-rare events as directional direct Dark Matter searches.
2020
nucleus; recoilreadout opticalenergy lowtime projection chambergas electron multiplierdark matter; detectorsemiconductor detectortrack data analysisspatial resolutionphotomultiplier
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Identification of low energy nuclear recoils in a gas TPC with optical readout / Baracchini, Elisabetta; Benussi, Luigi; Bianco, Stefano; Capoccia, Cesidio; Caponero, Michele Arturo; Cavoto, Gianluca; Cortez, André; Abritta Costa, Igor; Di Marco, Emanuele; D'Imperio, Giulia; Dho, Giorgio; Iacoangeli, Fabrizio; Maccarrone, Giovanni; Marafini, Michela; Mazzitelli, Giovanni; Messina, Andrea; Antunes Nobrega, Rafael; Orlandi, Aldo; Paoletti, Emiliano; Passamonti, Luciano; Petrucci, Fabrizio; Piccolo, Davide; Pierluigi, Daniele; Pinci, Davide; Renga, Francesco; Rosatelli, Filippo; Russo, Alessandro; Saviano, Giovanna; Tesauro, Roberto; Tomassini, Sandro. - In: MEASUREMENT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. - ISSN 0957-0233. - 32:2(2020). [10.1088/1361-6501/abbd12]
File allegati a questo prodotto
File Dimensione Formato  
Baracchini_postprint_Identification_2020.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Documento in Post-print (versione successiva alla peer review e accettata per la pubblicazione)
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)
Dimensione 8.28 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
8.28 MB Adobe PDF
Baracchini_Identification_2020.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Versione editoriale (versione pubblicata con il layout dell'editore)
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 4.87 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
4.87 MB Adobe PDF

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1456592
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 15
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 8
social impact