Published September 1, 2021 | Version v1
Journal article

Measurement of the longitudinal diffusion of ionization electrons in the MicroBooNE detector

  • 1. Tufts University, Medford, MA, 02155 (United States)
  • 2. Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago, IL 60616 (United States)
  • 3. University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE (United Kingdom)
  • 4. University of Texas, Arlington, TX, 76019 (United States)
  • 5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, 02139 (United States)
  • 6. Wright Laboratory, Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520 (United States)
  • 7. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL 60510 (United States)
  • 8. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109 (United States)
  • 9. University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
  • 10. The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
  • 11. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
  • 12. Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244 (United States)
  • 13. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY, 11973 (United States)
  • 14. Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YW (United Kingdom)
  • 15. Kansas State University (KSU), Manhattan, KS, 66506 (United States)
  • 16. Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027 (United States)

Description

Accurate knowledge of electron transport properties is vital to understanding the information provided by liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs). Ionization electron drift-lifetime, local electric field distortions caused by positive ion accumulation, and electron diffusion can all significantly impact the measured signal waveforms. This paper presents a measurement of the effective longitudinal electron diffusion coefficient, DL, in MicroBooNE at the nominal electric field strength of 273.9 V/cm. Historically, this measurement has been made in LArTPC prototype detectors. This represents the first measurement in a large-scale (85 tonne active volume) LArTPC operating in a neutrino beam. This is the largest dataset ever used for this measurement. Using a sample of ∼70,000 through-going cosmic ray muon tracks tagged with MicroBooNE's cosmic ray tagger system, we measure DL = 3.74+0.28 -0.29 cm2/s. (paper)

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/16/09/P09025

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Instrumentation
Journal Volume
16
Journal Issue
09
Journal Page Range
[32 p.]
ISSN
1748-0221

Optional Information

Collaborations
MicroBooNE collaboration