학술논문
High-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber with scalable design and its performance around the Q value of [.sup.136]Xe double-beta decay
Document Type
Academic Journal
Author
Yoshida, Masashi; Nakamura, Kazuhiro; Akiyama, Shinichi; Ban, Sei; Hikida, Junya; Hirose, Masanori; Ichikawa, Atsuko K.; Iwashita, Yoshihisa; Kashino, Yukimasa; Kikawa, Tatsuya; Minamino, Akihiro; Miuchi, Kentaro; Nakajima, Yasuhiro; Nakamura, Kiseki D.; Nakaya, Tsuyoshi; Obara, Shuhei; Sakashita, Ken; Sekiya, Hiroyuki; Shinagawa, Hibiki; Sugashima, Bungo; Urano, Soki
Source
Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics. January, 2024, Vol. 2024 Issue 1, p1b, 25 p.
Subject
Language
English
Abstract
We have been developing a high-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber (TPC) called AXEL (A Xenon ElectroLuminescence detector) to search for neutrinoless double-beta (0v[beta][beta]) decay of [.sup.136]Xe. The unique feature of this TPC is the electroluminescence light collection cell (ELCC), the part designed to detect ionization electrons. The ELCC is composed of multiple units, and one unit covers 48.5 [cm.sup.2]. A 180 L size prototype detector with 12 units, 672 channels, of the ELCC was constructed and operated with 7.6 bar natural xenon gas to evaluate the performance of the detector around a Q value of [.sup.136]Xe 0v[beta][beta]. The obtained FWHM energy resolution is 0.73 [+ or -] 0.11% at 1836 keV. This corresponds to 0.60 [+ or -] 0.03% to 0.70 [+ or -] 0.21% of the energy resolution at a Q value of [.sup.136]Xe 0v[beta][beta]. This result shows the scalability of the AXEL detector with the ELCC while maintaining a high energy resolution. Factors determining the energy resolution were quantitatively evaluated and the result indicates that further improvement is feasible. Reconstructed track images show distinctive structures at the endpoints of electron tracks, which will be an important feature in distinguishing 0v[beta][beta] signals from gamma-ray backgrounds.
1. Introduction Whether neutrinos have a Majorana nature is key to resolving the problems of the light neutrino masses [1-3] and the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe [4]. The most [...]
1. Introduction Whether neutrinos have a Majorana nature is key to resolving the problems of the light neutrino masses [1-3] and the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe [4]. The most [...]