F. Monrabal

Donostia International Physics Center

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Document Type

Co-Authors

J.J. Gómez-Cadenas

Ikerbasque

111

J. Martín-Albo

Instituto de Física Corpuscular

R. Esteve

Universitat Politècnica de València

S. Cebrián

Universidad de Zaragoza

L. M. P. Fernandes

University of Coimbra

C. M. B. Monteiro

University of Coimbra

J.M.F. dos Santos

University of Coimbra

J. A. Hernando Morata

Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

C.A.N. Conde

University of Coimbra

J.F.C.A. Veloso

University of Aveiro

Cooperative Institutions

The University of Tokyo

201

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

183

University of California, Irvine

148

Boston University

148

Universitat Politècnica de València

146

Universitat de València

137

Instituto de Física Corpuscular

136

Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular

134

Universidad de Zaragoza

132

Duke University

131

Author Statistics

Papers

Citation

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In-situ calibration of a PMT inside a scintillation detector by means of primary scintillation detection

arXiv (Cornell University) (2012)

V. Álvarez D. Lorca Jinete D. Shuman R. Esteve

We have investigated the possibility of calibrating the PMTs of scintillation detectors, using the primary scintillation produced by X-rays to induce single photoelectron response of the PMT. The high-energy tail of this response, can be approximated to an exponential function, under some conditions. In these cases, it is possible to determine the average gain for each PMT biasing voltage from the inverse of the exponent of the exponential fit to the tail, which can be done even if the background and/or noise cover-up most of the distribution. We have compared our results with those obtained by the commonly used single electron response (SER) method, which uses a LED to induce a single photoelectron response of the PMT and determines the peak position of such response, relative to the pedestal peak (the electronic noise peak, which corresponds to 0 photoelectrons). The results of the exponential fit method agree with those obtained by the SER method when the average number of photoelectrons reaching the first dynode per light/scintillation pulse is around 1.0. The SER method has higher precision, while the exponential fit method has the advantage of being useful in situations where the PMT is already in situ, being difficult or even impossible to apply the SER method, e.g. in sealed scintillator/PMT devices.

Liquid Scintillation Counting

10.48550/arxiv.1211.4409

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Sense and sensitivity of double beta decay experiments

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (2011)

J.J. Gómez-Cadenas J. Martín-Albo M. Sorel P. Ferrario F. Monrabal

The search for neutrinoless double beta decay is a very active field in which the number of proposals for next-generation experiments has proliferated. In this paper we attempt to address both the sense and the sensitivity of such proposals. Sensitivity comes first, by means of proposing a simple and unambiguous statistical recipe to derive the sensitivity to a putative Majorana neutrino mass, m_bb. In order to make sense of how the different experimental approaches compare, we apply this recipe to a selection of proposals, comparing the resulting sensitivities. We also propose a "physics-motivated range" (PMR) of the nuclear matrix elements as a unifying criterium between the different nuclear models. The expected performance of the proposals is parametrized in terms of only four numbers: energy resolution, background rate (per unit time, isotope mass and energy), detection efficiency, and bb isotope mass. For each proposal, both a reference and an optimistic scenario for the experimental performance are studied. In the reference scenario we find that all the proposals will be able to partially explore the degenerate spectrum, without fully covering it, although four of them (KamLAND-Zen, CUORE, NEXT and EXO) will approach the 50 meV boundary. In the optimistic scenario, we find that CUORE and the xenon-based proposals (KamLAND-Zen, EXO and NEXT) will explore a significant fraction of the inverse hierarchy, with NEXT covering it almost fully. For the long term future, we argue that Xe-based experiments may provide the best case for a 1-ton scale experiment, given the potentially very low backgrounds achievable and the expected scalability to large isotope masses.

10.1088/1475-7516/2011/06/007

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Citations (71)

A Compact Dication Source for Ba$^{2+}$ Tagging and Heavy Metal Ion Sensor Development

OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (2023)

K. E. Navarro B. J. P. Jones J. Baeza-Rubio M. Boyd A. A. Denisenko

We present a tunable metal ion beam that delivers controllable ion currents in the picoamp range for testing of dry-phase ion sensors. Ion beams are formed by sequential atomic evaporation and single or multiple electron impact ionization, followed by acceleration into a sensing region. Controllability of the ionic charge state is achieved through tuning of electrode potentials that influence the retention time in the ionization region. Barium, lead, and cobalt samples have been used to test the system, with ion currents identified and quantified using a quadrupole mass analyzer. Realization of a clean $\mathrm{Ba^{2+}}$ ion beam within a bench-top system represents an important technical advance toward the development and characterization of barium tagging systems for neutrinoless double beta decay searches in xenon gas. This system also provides a testbed for investigation of novel ion sensing methodologies for environmental assay applications, with dication beams of Pb$^{2+}$ and Cd$^{2+}$ also demonstrated for this purpose.

Dication

Source

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Citations (3)

Present Status and Future Perspectives of the NEXT Experiment

Advances in High Energy Physics (2014)

J.J. Gómez-Cadenas V. Álvarez F.I.G.M. Borges S. Cárcel J. Castel

NEXT is an experiment dedicated to neutrinoless double beta decay searches in xenon. The detector is a TPC, holding 100 kg of high-pressure xenon enriched in the 136 Xe isotope. It is under construction in the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc in Spain, and it will begin operations in 2015. The NEXT detector concept provides an energy resolutionbetter than 1% FWHM and a topological signal that can be used to reduce the background. Furthermore, the NEXT technology can be extrapolated to a 1 ton-scale experiment.

10.1155/2014/907067

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Citations (68)

Discovering neutrinoless double beta decay with NEXT-100

F. Monrabal A. Simón J.J. Gómez-Cadenas

BETA (programming language)

Source

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Measurement of the Xe136 two-neutrino double- β -decay half-life via direct background subtraction in NEXT

Physical review. C (2022)

P. Novella M. Sorel A. Usón C. Adams H. Almazán

We report a measurement of the half-life of the 136Xe two-neutrino double-β decay performed with a novel direct-background-subtraction technique. The analysis relies on the data collected with the NEXT-White detector operated with 136Xe-enriched and 136Xe-depleted xenon, as well as on the topology of double-electron tracks. With a fiducial mass of only 3.5 kg of Xe, a half-life of 2.34+0.80−0.46(stat)+0.30−0.17(sys)×1021yr is derived from the background-subtracted energy spectrum. The presented technique demonstrates the feasibility of unique background-model-independent neutrinoless double-β-decay searches.Received 25 November 2021Revised 25 January 2022Accepted 6 April 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.105.055501©2022 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasDouble beta decayLifetimes & widthsNeutrinoless double beta decayNuclear structure & decaysRare decaysProperties90 ≤ A ≤ 149Nuclear PhysicsParticles & Fields

KATRIN

10.1103/physrevc.105.055501

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Citations (21)

Characterisation of NEXT-DEMO using xenon K_αX-rays

Journal of Instrumentation (2014)

D. Lorca J. Martín-Albo A. Laing P. Ferrario J.J. Gómez-Cadenas

The NEXT experiment aims to observe the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe in a high pressure gas TPC using electroluminescence (EL) to amplify the signal from ionization. Understanding the response of the detector is imperative in achieving a consistent and well understood energy measurement. The abundance of xenon k-shell x-ray emission during data taking has been identified as a multitool for the characterisation of the fundamental parameters of the gas as well as the equalisation of the response of the detector. The NEXT-DEMO prototype is a ~1.5 kg volume TPC filled with natural xenon. It employs an array of 19 PMTs as an energy plane and of 256 SiPMs as a tracking plane with the TPC light tube and SiPM surfaces being coated with tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB) which acts as a wavelength shifter for the VUV scintillation light produced by xenon. This paper presents the measurement of the properties of the drift of electrons in the TPC, the effects of the EL production region, and the extraction of position dependent correction constants using K$_α$ X-ray deposits. These constants were used to equalise the response of the detector to deposits left by gammas from $^{22}$Na.

Silicon Photomultiplier

Time projection chamber

MicroMegas detector

Tracking (education)

10.1088/1748-0221/9/10/p10007

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Citations (26)

Description and commissioning of NEXT-MM prototype: first results from operation in a Xenon-Trimethylamine gas mixture

Journal of Instrumentation (2014)

V. Álvarez Francisco Aznar F.I.G.M. Borges D. Calvet S. Cárcel

A technical description of NEXT-MM and its commissioning and first performance is reported. Having an active volume of ∼ 35 cm drift × 28 cm diameter, it constitutes the largest Micromegas-read TPC operated in Xenon ever constructed, made by a sectorial arrangement of the 4 largest single wafers manufactured with the Microbulk technique to date. It is equipped with a suitably pixelized readout and with a sufficiently large sensitive volume ( ∼ 23 l) so as to contain long ( ∼ 20 cm) electron tracks. First results obtained at 1 bar for Xenon and Trymethylamine (Xe-(2%)TMA) mixture are presented. The TPC can accurately reconstruct extended background tracks. An encouraging full-width half-maximum of 11.6 % was obtained for ∼ 29 keV gammas without resorting to any data post-processing.

MicroMegas detector

Bar (unit)

10.1088/1748-0221/9/03/p03010

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Citations (18)

Low-diffusion Xe-He gas mixtures for rare-event detection: Electroluminescence Yield

arXiv (Cornell University) (2019)

A. F. M. Fernandes C. A. O. Henriques R. D. P. Mano D. González-Díaz C.D.R. Azevedo

High pressure xenon Time Projection Chambers (TPC) based on secondary scintillation (electroluminescence) signal amplification are being proposed for rare event detection such as directional dark matter, double electron capture and double beta decay detection. The discrimination of the rare event through the topological signature of primary ionisation trails is a major asset for this type of TPC when compared to single liquid or double-phase TPCs, limited mainly by the high electron diffusion in pure xenon. Helium admixtures with xenon can be an attractive solution to reduce the electron diffusion significantly, improving the discrimination efficiency of these optical TPCs. We have measured the electroluminescence (EL) yield of Xe-He mixtures, in the range of 0 to 30% He and demonstrated the small impact on the EL yield of the addition of helium to pure xenon. For a typical reduced electric field of 2.5 kV/cm/bar in the scintillation region, the EL yield is lowered by ~ 2%, 3%, 6% and 10% for 10%, 15%, 20% and 30% of helium concentration, respectively. This decrease is less than what has been obtained from the most recent simulation framework in the literature. The impact of the addition of helium on EL statistical fluctuations is negligible, within the experimental uncertainties. The present results are an important benchmark for the simulation tools to be applied to future optical TPCs based on Xe-He mixtures.

10.48550/arxiv.1906.03984

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Citations (4)

The Hyper-Kamiokande Experiment -- Snowmass LOI

arXiv (Cornell University) (2020)

Hyper-Kamiokande Collaboration NULL AUTHOR_ID K. Abe P. Adrich H. Aihara

Hyper-Kamiokande is the next generation underground water Cherenkov detector that builds on the highly successful Super-Kamiokande experiment. The detector which has an 8.4~times larger effective volume than its predecessor will be located along the T2K neutrino beamline and utilize an upgraded J-PARC beam with 2.6~times beam power. Hyper-K's low energy threshold combined with the very large fiducial volume make the detector unique, that is expected to acquire an unprecedented exposure of 3.8~Mton$\cdot$year over a period of 20~years of operation. Hyper-Kamiokande combines an extremely diverse science program including nucleon decays, long-baseline neutrino oscillations, atmospheric neutrinos, and neutrinos from astrophysical origins. The scientific scope of this program is highly complementary to liquid-argon detectors for example in sensitivity to nucleon decay channels or supernova detection modes. Hyper-Kamiokande construction has started in early 2020 and the experiment is expected to start operations in 2027. The Hyper-Kamiokande collaboration is presently being formed amongst groups from 19 countries including the United States, whose community has a long history of making significant contributions to the neutrino physics program in Japan. US physicists have played leading roles in the Kamiokande, Super-Kamiokande, EGADS, K2K, and T2K programs.

Super-Kamiokande

Neutrino astronomy

Cherenkov detector

10.48550/arxiv.2009.00794

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Citations (1)