The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment

(2019)

Authors:

The LZ Collaboration, DS Akerib, CW Akerlof, D Yu Akimov, A Alquahtani, SK Alsum, TJ Anderson, N Angelides, HM Araújo, A Arbuckle, JE Armstrong, M Arthurs, H Auyeung, X Bai, AJ Bailey, J Balajthy, S Balashov, J Bang, MJ Barry, J Barthel, D Bauer, P Bauer, A Baxter, J Belle, P Beltrame, J Bensinger, T Benson, EP Bernard, A Bernstein, A Bhatti, A Biekert, TP Biesiadzinski, B Birrittella, KE Boast, AI Bolozdynya, EM Boulton, B Boxer, R Bramante, S Branson, P Brás, M Breidenbach, JH Buckley, VV Bugaev, R Bunker, S Burdin, JK Busenitz, JS Campbell, C Carels, DL Carlsmith, B Carlson, MC Carmona-Benitez, M Cascella, C Chan, JJ Cherwinka, AA Chiller, C Chiller, NI Chott, A Cole, J Coleman, D Colling, RA Conley, A Cottle, R Coughlen, WW Craddock, D Curran, A Currie, JE Cutter, JP da Cunha, CE Dahl, S Dardin, S Dasu, J Davis, TJR Davison, L de Viveiros, N Decheine, A Dobi, JEY Dobson, E Druszkiewicz, A Dushkin, TK Edberg, WR Edwards, BN Edwards, J Edwards, MM Elnimr, WT Emmet, SR Eriksen, CH Faham, A Fan, S Fayer, S Fiorucci, H Flaecher, IM Fogarty Florang, P Ford, VB Francis, F Froborg, T Fruth, RJ Gaitskell, NJ Gantos, D Garcia, A Geffre, VM Gehman, R Gelfand, J Genovesi, RM Gerhard, C Ghag, E Gibson, MGD Gilchriese, S Gokhale, B Gomber, TG Gonda, A Greenall, S Greenwood, G Gregerson, MGD van der Grinten, CB Gwilliam, CR Hall, D Hamilton, S Hans, K Hanzel, T Harrington, A Harrison, C Hasselkus, SJ Haselschwardt, D Hemer, SA Hertel, J Heise, S Hillbrand, O Hitchcock, C Hjemfelt, MD Hoff, B Holbrook, E Holtom, JY-K Hor, M Horn, DQ Huang, TW Hurteau, CM Ignarra, MN Irving, RG Jacobsen, O Jahangir, SN Jeffery, W Ji, M Johnson, J Johnson, P Johnson, WG Jones, AC Kaboth, A Kamaha, K Kamdin, V Kasey, K Kazkaz, J Keefner, D Khaitan, M Khaleeq, A Khazov, AV Khromov, I Khurana, YD Kim, WT Kim, CD Kocher, AM Konovalov, L Korley, EV Korolkova, M Koyuncu, J Kras, H Kraus, SW Kravitz, HJ Krebs, L Kreczko, B Krikler, VA Kudryavtsev, AV Kumpan, S Kyre, AR Lambert, B Landerud, NA Larsen, A Laundrie, EA Leason, HS Lee, J Lee, C Lee, BG Lenardo, DS Leonard, R Leonard, KT Lesko, C Levy, J Li, Y Liu, J Liao, F-T Liao, J Lin, A Lindote, R Linehan, WH Lippincott, R Liu, X Liu, C Loniewski, MI Lopes, B López Paredes, W Lorenzon, D Lucero, S Luitz, JM Lyle, C Lynch, PA Majewski, J Makkinje, DC Malling, A Manalaysay, L Manenti, RL Mannino, N Marangou, DJ Markley, P MarrLaundrie, TJ Martin, MF Marzioni, C Maupin, CT McConnell, DN McKinsey, J McLaughlin, D-M Mei, Y Meng, EH Miller, ZJ Minaker, E Mizrachi, J Mock, D Molash, A Monte, ME Monzani, JA Morad, E Morrison, BJ Mount, A St J Murphy, D Naim, A Naylor, C Nedlik, C Nehrkorn, HN Nelson, J Nesbit, F Neves, JA Nikkel, JA Nikoleyczik, A Nilima, J O'Dell, H Oh, FG O'Neill, K O'Sullivan, I Olcina, MA Olevitch, KC Oliver-Mallory, L Oxborough, A Pagac, D Pagenkopf, S Pal, KJ Palladino, VM Palmaccio, J Palmer, M Pangilinan, SJ Patton, EK Pease, BP Penning, G Pereira, C Pereira, IB Peterson, A Piepke, S Pierson, S Powell, RM Preece, K Pushkin, Y Qie, M Racine, BN Ratcliff, J Reichenbacher, L Reichhart, CA Rhyne, A Richards, Q Riffard, GRC Rischbieter, JP Rodrigues, HJ Rose, R Rosero, P Rossiter, R Rucinski, G Rutherford, D Rynders, JS Saba, L Sabarots, D Santone, M Sarychev, ABMR Sazzad, RW Schnee, M Schubnell, PR Scovell, M Severson, D Seymour, S Shaw, GW Shutt, TA Shutt, JJ Silk, C Silva, K Skarpaas, W Skulski, AR Smith, RJ Smith, RE Smith, J So, M Solmaz, VN Solovov, P Sorensen, VV Sosnovtsev, I Stancu, MR Stark, S Stephenson, N Stern, A Stevens, TM Stiegler, K Stifter, R Studley, TJ Sumner, K Sundarnath, P Sutcliffe, N Swanson, M Szydagis, M Tan, WC Taylor, R Taylor, DJ Taylor, D Temples, BP Tennyson, PA Terman, KJ Thomas, JA Thomson, DR Tiedt, M Timalsina, WH To, A Tomás, TE Tope, M Tripathi, DR Tronstad, CE Tull, W Turner, L Tvrznikova, M Utes, U Utku, S Uvarov, J Va'vra, A Vacheret, A Vaitkus, JR Verbus, T Vietanen, E Voirin, CO Vuosalo, S Walcott, WL Waldron, K Walker, JJ Wang, R Wang, L Wang, Y Wang, JR Watson, J Migneault, S Weatherly, RC Webb, W-Z Wei, M While, RG White, JT White, DT White, TJ Whitis, WJ Wisniewski, K Wilson, MS Witherell, FLH Wolfs, JD Wolfs, D Woodward, SD Worm, X Xiang, Q Xiao, J Xu, M Yeh, J Yin, I Young, C Zhang

Measurement of the gamma ray background in the Davis cavern at the Sanford Underground Research Facility

Astroparticle Physics Elsevier 116:March 2020 (2019) 102391

Authors:

Ds Akerib, Cw Akerlof, Sk Alsum, Ke Boast, C Carels, A Cottle, T Fruth

Abstract:

Deep underground environments are ideal for low background searches due to the attenuation of cosmic rays by passage through the earth. However, they are affected by backgrounds from γ-rays emitted by 40K and the 238U and 232Th decay chains in the surrounding rock. The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment will search for dark matter particle interactions with a liquid xenon TPC located within the Davis campus at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, Lead, South Dakota, at the 4850-foot level. In order to characterise the cavern background, in-situ γ-ray measurements were taken with a sodium iodide detector in various locations and with lead shielding. The integral count rates (0–3300 keV) varied from 596 Hz to 1355 Hz for unshielded measurements, corresponding to a total flux from the cavern walls of 1.9 ± 0.4 γ cm−2s−1. The resulting activity in the walls of the cavern can be characterised as 220 ± 60 Bq/kg of 40K, 29 ± 15 Bq/kg of 238U, and 13 ± 3 Bq/kg of 232Th.

Geant4-based electromagnetic background model for the CRESST dark matter experiment

European Physical Journal C Springer Nature 79:10 (2019) 881

Authors:

AH Abdelhameed, G Angloher, P Bauer, A Bento, E Bertoldo, R Breier, C Bucci, L Canonica, A D’Addabbo, S Di Lorenzo, A Erb, FV Feilitzsch, N Ferreiro Iachellini, S Fichtinger, A Fuss, P Gorla, D Hauff, M Jes̆kovský, J Jochum, J Kaizer, A Kinast, H Kluck, H Kraus, A Langenkämper, M Mancuso, V Mokina, E Mondragón, M Olmi, T Ortmann, C Pagliarone, V Palus̆ová, L Pattavina, F Petricca, W Potzel, P Povinec, F Pröbst, F Reindl, J Rothe, K Schäffner, J Schieck, V Schipperges, D Schmiedmayer, S Schönert, C Schwertner, M Stahlberg, L Stodolsky, C Strandhagen, R Strauss, C Türkoğlu, I Usherov, M Willers, V Zema, J Zeman

Triplet lifetime in gaseous argon

The European Physical Journal A Springer Nature 55:10 (2019) 176

Authors:

Michael Akashi-Ronquest, Amanda Bacon, Christopher Benson, Kolahal Bhattacharya, Thomas Caldwell, Joseph A Formaggio, Dan Gastler, Brianna Grado-White, Jeff Griego, Michael Gold, Andrew Hime, Christopher M Jackson, Stephen Jaditz, Chris Kachulis, Edward Kearns, Joshua R Klein, Antonio Ledesma, Steve Linden, Frank Lopez, Sean MacMullin, Andrew Mastbaum, Jocelyn Monroe, James Nikkel, John Oertel, Gabriel D Orebi Gann, Gabriel S Ortega, Kimberley Palladino, Keith Rielage, Stanley R Seibert, Jui-Jen Wang

Low temperature scintillation properties of Ga2O3

Applied Physics Letters AIP Publishing 115:8 (2019) 081103

Authors:

VB Mykhaylyk, Hans Kraus, V Kapustianyk, M Rudko

Abstract:

Gallium oxide has recently been identified as a promising scintillator. To assess its potential as a detector material for ionizing radiation at low temperatures, we measured the luminescence and scintillation properties of an undoped Ga2O3 crystal over the 7–295 K temperature range. The emission of the crystal is due to the radiative decay of self-trapped excitons and donor-acceptor pairs and peaks at a wavelength of 380 nm. The scintillation light output of the undoped Ga2O3 increases with a decrease in temperature, reaching a maximum value of 19 300 ± 2200 ph/MeV at 50 K. The measured luminescence kinetics has a recombination character with specific decay time (τ0.1) increasing from 1 to 1.8 μs at cooling. Since radiative decay in the crystal competes with nonradiative processes, material optimization could lead to the scintillator achieving a yield of 40800 ph/MeV, a figure considered to be an upper limit.