Project Details
Projekt
The ANNIE Water-based Liquid Scintillator Program 2022-2024
Subject Area
Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Fields
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 490717455
Water-based liquid scintillator (WbLS) has been proposed as an advanced detection medium for low-energy astrophysical neutrinos and long-baseline neutrino beam experiments. In WbLS detectors, ionizing particles produce photon signals by scintillation and the Cherenkov effect. The reconstruction of both signal components greatly enhances particle identification (PID) and background discrimination power. Signal separation is further improved by the use of ultra-fast light sensors. Here, we propose the first physics application of the novel scintillation material in the ANNIE (Accelerator Neutrino Nucleus Interaction Experiment) experiment located in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab. Currently, the ANNIE experiment uses a ton-scale gadolinium loaded water target to study GeV neutrino interactions for their cross-sections and distributions of neutron production. This proposal aims to develop and realize an upgrade of ANNIE introducing WbLS as target medium. At the first stage, this will be realized by the deployment of an acrylic vessel containing 320 kg of WbLS into ANNIE’s water target. For neutrinos interacting inside this vessel, the enhanced signal reconstruction capabilities of WbLS will enable the detection of sub-Cherenkov particles in hadronic recoils and add novel PID capabilities based on the ratio of Cherenkov and scintillation photons detected. ANNIE will be equipped soon with an array of novel LAPPD light sensors that offer sub-nanosecond timing precision. Their impact on event reconstruction in WbLS will be of special interest.The goal of the present proposal is not only to further develop hybrid event reconstruction but also to put it to the test in physics analyses of the collected neutrino data. Neutral Current (NC) neutrino interactions pose a crucial background for long-baseline oscillation experiments. Moreover, these NC interactions are of special interest for the understanding of atmospheric neutrino events in large-volume water and scintillator detectors. There, this class of NC events constitutes the most persistent source of background in the search for the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background and limits the sensitivity in indirect Dark Matter searches. This analysis program will be complemented by the introduction of a laser system for a calibration of the WbLS scintillation response and preparations of the entire detector setup for a future ANNIE Phase III with a complete WbLS target.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
