Improving DUNE's sensitivity via charge and light information combination

• Grant number: 25/13611-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2030
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Ettore Segreto
• Grantee: Lucca Longhitano Pagliuso
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/13757-9 - Photon detection system of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, AP.TEM

Abstract

The principle of operation of a LArTPC is based on the application of an electric field to the collection of ionisation charge of argon atoms by collecting grids. This enables the construction of a three-dimensional image of the particle trajectory with a resolution of the order of millimetres, in addition to identifying the interacting particles. Traditionally, the scintillation light emitted by the argon is used in LArTPCs as fast temporal information about the interactions in the chamber, since the electron drift occurs with a relatively small speed. Nevertheless, given the complementarity of light and charge production in this environment, which is very much dependent on the applied electric field, combining the information from both systems can improve energy reconstruction, minimizing the uncertainty due to the quenching suffered by the light. Methods to use this additional information in LArTPCs are yet to be fully explored in neutrino detectors. More recently, the possibility of Xe doping of liquid argon to improve light collection has been tested. This project will engage in a phenomenological description of the light and charge production in liquid argon doped with xenon and also develop tools for energy reconstruction integrating both signals in order to evaluate possible improvements in resolution in the tens-of-MeV to tens-of-GeV energy range and impacts on the primary DUNE goals regarding mainly supernova and beam physics, with possible extension to solar neutrinos. (AU)