Muon electronics: a data acquisition channel for high-energy muons in the Double Chooz experiment

Full text. Double Chooz is a neutrino experiment under construction at the Chooz nuclear power plant in France. The main goal of the experiment is to measure the mixing angle θ13 down to the sensitivity sin2(2θ13) = 0:03 in three years of data taking. Double Chooz takes benefits from the previous experience and infra-structure of the Chooz Experiment, which has so far the strongest limit to θ13 (0.20). In this work is described the MuonE (Muon Electronics), a DAQ channel dedicated to study phenomena related to large energy depositions in the liquid scintillator. The MuonE is a VME-based electronics able to digitize eight input signals at 125 MHz as well as to measure time between pulses, in a common START mode, with resolution down to 81 ps. Both information, integrated charge and time, feed a programmable device (FPGA) responsible for further digital processing, including trigger decision, data formatting and buffering. We are specially interested in keep track of the muon induced nuclear spallations, the source of metastable isotopes that are subject to beta-neutron decays. Those isotopes have the ability to reproduce an antineutrino event by mimicking the products of the inverse beta decay, the main antineutrino interaction signature in liquid scintillator detectors. The correct identification of this kind of event is crucial to reduce the systematics at the level required by the specifications of the experiment. (author)