Academic literature on the topic 'Double-Beta / gamma discrimination'

We report the development of a CaMoO4crystal low temperature detector for the AMoRE neutrinoless double beta decay(0νββ)search experiment. The prototype detector cell was composed of a 216 g CaMoO4crystal and a metallic magnetic calorimeter. An overground measurement demonstrated FWHM resolution of 6–11 keV for full absorption gamma peaks. Pulse shape discrimination was clearly demonstrated in the phonon signals, and 7.6 σof discrimination power was found for theαandβ/γseparation. The phonon signals showed rise-times of about 1 ms. It is expected that the relatively fast rise-time will increase the rejection efficiency of two-neutrino double beta decay pile-up events which can be one of the major background sources in0νββsearches.

Abstract The AMoRE collaboration is preparing for the second phase of the experiment, AMoRE-II, which will exploit a 100 kg of 100Mo isotopes to search for neutrinoless double beta decay from the isotope. Most of the 100Mo isotopes will be contained in the lithium molybdate (Li2MoO4) crystals, which will act as absorbers of cryogenic calorimeters coupled to MMC (metallic magnetic calorimeter) sensors. The detector array will have a total mass of approximately 200 kg with hundreds of detector modules. Hence, considerable effort has been taken to optimize the lithium molybdate crystal detector in terms of the detector performance and preparation procedure to build many detector modules in a reasonable schedule without compromising the detector performance. We found some critical experimental conditions to improve the energy resolution in a series of test experiments. In this paper, we discuss the effect of surface treatment and thermal link connection in improving the energy resolution from 14–15 keV to below 7 keV at 2.615 MeV, 208Tl gamma line, which is near the Q-value of the decay of 100Mo, 3.034MeV. We also report the high discrimination power for the separation of alpha particles using the simultaneous scintillation light detection with a test performed in the cryogen-free dilution refrigerator.

AbstractExploring hit positions of recorded events can help to understand and suppress backgrounds in rare event searches. We propose a pulse shape analysis method to discriminate single-site events (SSEs) in the inner and outer layer of a small contact P-type germanium detector (HPGe). SSEs in the inner and outer layer have different pulse shape features, of which the rise time of the $$(T_{Q})$$ ( T Q ) and current pulse $$(T_{I})$$ ( T I ) are selected for discrimination. A 500 Bq Thorium-228 (Th-228) source is used to determine the boundaries between the two layers. The double escape peak events from 2614.5 keV $$\gamma $$ γ -ray are selected as typical SSEs, their numbers in the two layers are used to calculate the volumes and shapes of those layers. Considering the statistical and systematic uncertainties, the inner layer volume is evaluated to be 47.2% ± 0.26%(stat.) ± 0.18%(sys.) ± 0.22%(sys.) of the total sensitive volume. Selecting the inner layer as the analysis volume can reduce the external background in the signal region of Ge-76 neutrinoless double beta (0$$\nu \beta \beta )$$ ν β β ) decay. We use the Th-228 data to validate the inner layer model and evaluate the background suppression power in the 0$$\nu \beta \beta $$ ν β β signal region $$(Q_{\beta \beta }=2039$$ ( Q β β = 2039 keV). The virtual segmentation further reduces the background from the external Th-228 source by about 10%. The virtual segmentation could be used to efficiently suppress surface background like electrons from Ar-42 decay in 0$$\nu \beta \beta $$ ν β β experiments using germanium detectors immersed in liquid argon.

Introduction. Chronic pain is a percept due to an imbalance in the activity between sensory-discriminative, motivational-affective, and descending pain-inhibitory brain regions. Evidence suggests that electroencephalography (EEG) infraslow fluctuation neurofeedback (ISF-NF) training can improve clinical outcomes. It is unknown whether such training can induce EEG activity and functional connectivity (FC) changes. A secondary data analysis of a feasibility clinical trial was conducted to determine whether EEG ISF-NF training can significantly alter EEG activity and FC between the targeted cortical regions in people with chronic painful knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods. A parallel, two-arm, double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled clinical trial was conducted. People with chronic knee pain associated with OA were randomized to receive sham NF training or source-localized ratio ISF-NF training protocol to down-train ISF bands at the somatosensory (SSC), dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC), and uptrain pregenual anterior cingulate cortices (pgACC). Resting state EEG was recorded at baseline and immediate post-training. Results. The source localization mapping demonstrated a reduction ( P = .04) in the ISF band activity at the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LdlPFC) in the active NF group. Region of interest analysis yielded significant differences for ISF ( P = .008), slow ( P = .007), beta ( P = .043), and gamma ( P = .012) band activities at LdlPFC, dACC, and bilateral SSC. The FC between pgACC and left SSC in the delta band was negatively correlated with pain bothersomeness in the ISF-NF group. Conclusion. The EEG ISF-NF training can modulate EEG activity and connectivity in individuals with chronic painful knee osteoarthritis, and the observed EEG changes correlate with clinical pain measures.

La recherche de la désintégration double bêta sans neutrino (0νββ) est cruciale pour faire progresser notre compréhension de la physique et explorer la physique au-delà du modèle standard. Cependant, cette recherche est incroyablement difficile en raison de l'extrême rareté de la désintégration, qui nécessite une interprétation approfondie et une dépendance aux contraintes expérimentales et aux modèles nucléaires théoriques. L'expérience PandaX-III est dédiée à la recherche de 0νββ dans 136-Xe. Il s'agit d'une chambre de projection temporelle (TPC) gazeuse à haute pression équipée de détecteurs Micromegas. Ce choix a été fait pour maximiser la capacité de détection des traces de particules et minimiser les fluctuations statistiques dans la résolution énergétique. L'un des principaux défis de la recherche d'événements 0νββ est la discrimination entre le signal et les événements de bruit de fond, qui contaminent la région d'intérêt (ROI). Le système de lecture par pistes des détecteurs Micromegas (une combinaison de 52 détecteurs forme un plan de lecture) permet la reconstruction 2D précise des trajectoires d'ionisation avec les informations de charge et de temps. Cela permet d'étudier l'énergie et la topologie des trajectoires d'électrons et, en conséquence, de distinguer le signal du bruit de fond. Pour supprimer la scintillation et ne se baser que sur le signal d'ionisation, le 136-Xe gazeux enrichi à 90% est mélangé avec 1% de triméthylamine (TMA) qui joue le rôle de "quencher". La résolution énergétique actuelle de l'expérience PandaX-III est de 3% pour l'énergie de 2457 keV de la désintégration de 136-Xe 0νββ, et devrait être améliorée à 1%. Cependant, plusieurs facteurs peuvent dégrader la résolution en énergie, tels que la présence de canaux morts, les inhomogénéités de gain dans les détecteurs Micromegas ou l'attachement des électrons dans la TPC. Ce travail de doctorat présente une étude de l'impact des canaux manquants sur les reconstructions d'énergie et de topologie dans l'expérience PandaX-III. Les résultats de la détermination de la charge du blob n'offrent pas la possibilité souhaitée de reconstituer la partie de son énergie qui aurait été perdue en raison des canaux manquants dans XZ à partir des projections YZ des traces d'événements reconstruites et vice versa. Cependant, l'étude a montré qu'il est possible d'utiliser des algorithmes d'apprentissage automatique pour atténuer l'impact des canaux manquants sur ls reconstruction de l'énergie et de la topologie. Un modèle de réseau neuronal convolutif (CNN) a été développé pour prédire l'énergie réelle des électrons à partir des données simulées collectées par les Micromegas avec des canaux manquants. Les résultats finaux montrent que le modèle CNN prédit l'énergie réelle des événements enregistrés par les Micromegas avec des canaux manquants avec une grande efficacité. Nous observons une amélioration de l'efficacité de détection du signal de Monte Carlo dans la ROI, qui passe de 69% à 89% après l'application du modèle CNN, par rapport à l'approche directe consistant à additionner les amplitudes des signaux provenant des Micromegas dont les canaux sont manquants. Un autre modèle CNN a également été utilisé pour classer les événements à deux électrons des événements à un seul électron dans les données de Monte Carlo affectées par des canaux manquants. Le modèle est capable de rejeter 99% des événements de bruit de fond tout en conservant une efficacité de 26% pour les signaux 0νββ dans la ROI. Les résultats de ce travail sont prometteurs et ouvrent la voie à d'autres études visant à améliorer la résolution en énergie et le rejet du bruit de fond dans l'expérience PandaX-III
The search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) is crucial for advancing our understanding of physics and exploring physics beyond the Standard Model. However, this pursuit is incredibly challenging due to the decay's extreme rarity, requiring profound interpretation and reliance on experimental constraints and theoretical nuclear models. The PandaX-III experiment is dedicated to the search for 0νββ in 136-Xe. It is a high-pressure gaseous Time Projection Chamber (TPC) with Micromegas detectors. This design choice is made to maximize the particle track detection and discrimination 0νββ signal vs. gamma background capabilities. One of the main challenges of the 0νββ search is the discrimination between the signal and background events, which contaminate the region of interest (ROI). The strip readout system of the Micromegas detectors (a combination of 52 of them form a readout plane) allows for the precise 2D reconstruction of the ionization tracks together with the charge and time information. This allows for studying the electron tracks' energy and topology and ultimately discriminating the signal from the background. To suppress the scintillation light and rely only on the ionization signal, a 90% enriched 136-Xe is mixed with a 1% trimethylamine (TMA) quencher. The current energy resolution of the PandaX-III experiment is 3% for the 2457 keV energy of the 136-Xe 0νββ decay, envisioned to be improved to 1%. However, several factors can degrade the energy resolution, such as the presence of dead channels, gain inhomogeneities in the Micromegas detectors, or electron attachment in the TPC. This Ph.D work presents a study on the impact of missing channels on the energy and topology reconstructions in the PandaX-III experiment. The results of the Blob charge determination do not provide the desired possibility of reconstituting the part of the blob energy that would have been lost due to missing channels in XZ from YZ projections of reconstructed event tracks and vice versa. However, the study gave insight into employing machine learning (ML) algorithms to mitigate the impact of missing channels on energy and topology reconstructions. A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model was developed to predict the true energy of the electrons from the simulated data collected by the Micromegas with missing channels. The final results show that the CNN model predicts the true energy of the events recorded by the Micromegas with missing channels with a good energy resolution. We observe an improvement in the detection efficiency of the Monte Carlo 0νββ signal in the ROI from 69% to 89% after applying the CNN model, in comparison to the direct approach of directly summing amplitudes of the signals from the Micromegas with missing channels. Another CNN model was also used to classify the two-electron events from the single-electron events in the Monte Carlo data affected by missing channels. The model is capable of rejecting 99% of the background events while maintaining a 26% efficiency for the 0νββ signal in the ROI. The results of this work are promising and pave the way for further studies to improve the energy resolution and background rejection in the PandaX-III experiment