Tuesday, July 23, 2013

1307.5525 (E. Daw et al.)

Radon backgrounds in the DRIFT-II directional dark matter experiments    [PDF]

E. Daw, J. R. Fox, J. -L. Gauvreau, M. Gold, L. J. Harmon, J. M. Landers, E. R. Lee, D. Loomba, E. H. Miller, A. StJ. Murphy, S. M. Paling, M. Pipe, M. Robinson, S. Sadler, A. Scarff, D. P. Snowden-Ifft, N. J. C. Spooner, D. Walker
Low pressure gas Time Projection Chambers being developed for directional Dark Matter searches offer a technology with high particle identification power, combined with poten- tial to produce a definitive detection of galactic Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) Dark Matter. A source of background events in such experiments, able to mimic genuine WIMP in- duced nuclear recoil tracks, arises from potential radon contamination and the recoils that result from associated daughter nuclei, termed Radon Progeny Recoils (RPRs). We present here experi- mental data from a long-term study of this background using the DRIFT-II directional dark matter experiment at the Boulby Underground Laboratory. By detailed examination of event classes in both spatial and time coordinates using 5.5 years of data we show ability to determine the origin of 4 specific background populations and describe development of new technology and mitigation strategies to suppress them.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.5525

No comments:

Post a Comment