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Scintillation light calibrations, systematic uncertainties, and triggering efficiency in the MicroBooNE detector

MicroBooNE collaboration, P. Abratenko, D. Andrade Aldana, L. Arellano, J. Asaadi, A. Ashkenazi, S. Balasubramanian, B. Baller, A. Barnard, G. Barr, D. Barrow, J. Barrow, V. Basque, J. Bateman, B. Behera, O. Benevides Rodrigues, S. Berkman, A. Bhat, M. Bhattacharya, V. Bhelande, A. Binau, M. Bishai, A. Blake, B. Bogart, T. Bolton, M. B. Brunetti, L. Camilleri, D. Caratelli, F. Cavanna, G. Cerati, A. Chappell, Y. Chen, J. M. Conrad, M. Convery, L. Cooper-Troendle, J. I. Crespo-Anadon, R. Cross, M. Del Tutto, S. R. Dennis, P. Detje, R. Diurba, Z. Djurcic, K. Duffy, S. Dytman, B. Eberly, P. Englezos, A. Ereditato, J. J. Evans, C. Fang, B. T. Fleming, W. Foreman, D. Franco, A. P. Furmanski, F. Gao, D. Garcia-Gamez, S. Gardiner, G. Ge, S. Gollapinni, E. Gramellini, P. Green, H. Greenlee, L. Gu, W. Gu, R. Guenette, L. Hagaman, M. D. Handley, O. Hen, A. Hergenhan, M. Harrison, S. Hawkins, C. Hilgenberg, G. A. Horton-Smith, A. Hussain, B. Irwin, M. S. Ismail, C. James, X. Ji, J. H. Jo, A. Johnson, R. A. Johnson, D. Kalra, G. Karagiorgi, W. Ketchum, A. Kelly, M. Kirby, T. Kobilarcik, K. Kumar, N. Lane, J. -Y. Li, Y. Li, K. Lin, B. R. Littlejohn, L. Liu, S. Liu, W. C. Louis, X. Luo, T. Mahmud, N. Majeed, C. Mariani, J. Marshall, D. A. Martinez Caicedo, F. Martinez Lopez, M. G. Manuel Alves, S. Martynenko, A. Mastbaum, I. Mawby, N. McConkey, B. McConnell, L. Mellet, J. Mendez, J. Micallef, T. Mohayai, A. Mogan, M. Mooney, A. F. Moor, C. D. Moore, L. Mora Lepin, M. A. Hernandez Morquecho, M. M. Moudgalya, S. Mulleria Babu, D. Naples, A. Navrer-Agasson, N. Nayak, M. Nebot-Guinot, C. Nguyen, L. Nguyen, J. Nowak, N. Oza, O. Palamara, N. Pallat, V. Paolone, A. Papadopoulou, V. Papavassiliou, H. Parkinson, S. F. Pate, N. Patel, Z. Pavlovic, E. Piasetzky, K. Pletcher, I. Pophale, X. Qian, J. L. Raaf, V. Radeka, A. Rafique, R. Raymond, M. Reggiani-Guzzo, J. Rodriguez Rondon, M. Rosenberg, M. Ross-Lonergan, I. Safa, C. Sauer, D. W. Schmitz, A. Schukraft, W. Seligman, M. H. Shaevitz, R. Sharankova, J. Shi, L. Silva, E. L. Snider, S. Soldner-Rembold, J. Spitz, M. Stancari, J. St. John, T. Strauss, A. M. Szelc, N. Taniuchi, K. Terao, C. Thorpe, D. Torbunov, D. Totani, M. Toups, A. Trettin, Y. -T. Tsai, J. Tyler, M. A. Uchida, T. Usher, B. Viren, J. Wang, L. Wang, M. Weber, H. Wei, A. J. White, S. Wolbers, T. Wongjirad, K. Wresilo, W. Wu, E. Yandel, T. Yang, L. E. Yates, H. W. Yu, G. P. Zeller, J. Zennamo, C. Zhang, Y. Zhang

Abstract

Scintillation light, produced alongside ionisation charge from particle interactions, plays a critical role in liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) detectors. A detailed understanding of its production and detection mechanisms is essential for robust calibration, systematic uncertainty evaluation, and physics analysis. This article describes the MicroBooNE light simulation, light-based triggering schemes, photomultiplier tube gain calibration, light response stability, and light-based systematic uncertainties over the course of five years of data collection. In addition, we present a measurement of scintillation light triggering efficiency, focusing on the lowest-light regime relevant to rare-event searches and low-energy neutrino interactions. Finally, we discuss two notable observations in MicroBooNE's data, both reported here for the first time: an approximately 50% decline in MicroBooNE's light yield over time, concentrated in the first two years of running; and a higher than expected O(200 kHz) rate of single photoelectron noise. The results presented provide an important benchmark of long-term light detection performance in LArTPC neutrino detectors.

Scintillation light calibrations, systematic uncertainties, and triggering efficiency in the MicroBooNE detector

Abstract

Scintillation light, produced alongside ionisation charge from particle interactions, plays a critical role in liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) detectors. A detailed understanding of its production and detection mechanisms is essential for robust calibration, systematic uncertainty evaluation, and physics analysis. This article describes the MicroBooNE light simulation, light-based triggering schemes, photomultiplier tube gain calibration, light response stability, and light-based systematic uncertainties over the course of five years of data collection. In addition, we present a measurement of scintillation light triggering efficiency, focusing on the lowest-light regime relevant to rare-event searches and low-energy neutrino interactions. Finally, we discuss two notable observations in MicroBooNE's data, both reported here for the first time: an approximately 50% decline in MicroBooNE's light yield over time, concentrated in the first two years of running; and a higher than expected O(200 kHz) rate of single photoelectron noise. The results presented provide an important benchmark of long-term light detection performance in LArTPC neutrino detectors.
Paper Structure (28 sections, 7 equations, 28 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 28 sections, 7 equations, 28 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Detector, simulation and triggering
  3. The MicroBooNE detector
  4. Light detection system
  5. Light simulation
  6. Light signals and triggers
  7. PMT gain measurement and calibration
  8. Pulse finding and selection
  9. Multi-photoelectron fitting for gain extraction
  10. PMT gain calibration
  11. Time-based light yield stability
  12. Data sample and selection
  13. Method and results
  14. Light yield calibration
  15. Scintillation light triggering efficiency measurement
  16. ...and 13 more sections

Figures (28)

  • Figure 1: (a) Photograph of a MicroBooNE PMT optical unit. (b) Photograph of the TPB-coated acrylic plate. Photographs taken from MicroBooNE:2016pwy.
  • Figure 2: Schematic of a cutout of the MicroBooNE TPC showing the placement of the light collection system. Each optical unit consists of an 8" PMT with a TPB-coated acrylic plate mounted in front. Figure adapted from MicroBooNE:2016pwy.
  • Figure 3: (a) Sliced view in the XY plane and (b) sliced view in the YZ plane of MicroBooNE's standard photon visibility library (expected fraction of photons accepted) used in photon simulation. The cylindrical shape of the cryostat and the rectangular TPC volume are visible through the borders of the photon visibility in both projections.
  • Figure 4: Example of a beam neutrino event producing light in the TPC with the waveforms recorded by the MicroBooNE PMTs. Each line represents one of the 32 PMT waveforms, aligned to the reconstructed interaction time. The baseline ADC values were adjusted for visualisation to avoid crowding.
  • Figure 5: Software trigger acceptance rate for the BNB (blue) and NuMI (red), using a time window matched to each beam’s respective spill width. The rates were measured in off-beam mode, where cosmic-ray events dominate even with the software trigger applied.
  • ...and 23 more figures