Published May 30, 2023 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

Identification and reconstruction of low-energy electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon California Institute of Technology

Abstract

Measurements of electrons from 𝜈𝑒 interactions are crucial for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) neutrino oscillation program, as well as searches for physics beyond the standard model, supernova neutrino detection, and solar neutrino measurements. This article describes the selection and reconstruction of low-energy (Michel) electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector. ProtoDUNE-SP is one of the prototypes for the DUNE far detector, built and operated at CERN as a charged particle test beam experiment. A sample of low-energy electrons produced by the decay of cosmic muons is selected with a purity of 95%. This sample is used to calibrate the low-energy electron energy scale with two techniques. An electron energy calibration based on a cosmic ray muon sample uses calibration constants derived from measured and simulated cosmic ray muon events. Another calibration technique makes use of the theoretically well-understood Michel electron energy spectrum to convert reconstructed charge to electron energy. In addition, the effects of detector response to low-energy electron energy scale and its resolution including readout electronics threshold effects are quantified. Finally, the relation between the theoretical and reconstructed low-energy electron energy spectra is derived, and the energy resolution is characterized. The low-energy electron selection presented here accounts for about 75% of the total electron deposited energy. After the addition of lost energy using a Monte Carlo simulation, the energy resolution improves from about 40% to 25% at 50 MeV. These results are used to validate the expected capabilities of the DUNE far detector to reconstruct low-energy electrons.

Copyright and License

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

Acknowledgement

The ProtoDUNE-SP detector was constructed and operated on the CERN Neutrino Platform. We thank the CERN management for providing the infrastructure for this experiment and gratefully acknowledge the support of the CERN Experimental physics (EP), Beams (BE), Technology (TE), Engineering (EN), Information Technology (IT), and Industry, Procurement and Knowledge Transfer (IPT) Departments for NP04/ProtoDUNE-SP. This document was prepared by the DUNE Collaboration using the resources of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), a U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, HEP User Facility. Fermilab is managed by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC (FRA), acting under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359. This work was supported by CNPq, FAPERJ, FAPEG, and FAPESP, Brazil; Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Institute of Particle Physics (IPP), and NSERC, Canada; CERN; MšMT, Czech Republic; ERDF, H2020-EU, and MSCA, European Union; CNRS/IN2P3 and CEA, France; INFN, Italy; FCT, Portugal; NRF, South Korea; Comunidad de Madrid (CAM), Fundación “La Caixa,” and MICINN, Spain; SERI and SNSF, Switzerland; TüBİTAK, Turkey; The Royal Society and UKRI/STFC, United Kingdom; DOE and NSF, USA. This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

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Additional details

Identifiers

ISSN
2470-0029

Funding

European Organization for Nuclear Research
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
United States Department of Energy
DE-AC02-07CH11359
United States Department of Energy
DE-AC02-05CH11231
Office of Science
National Council for Scientific and Technological Development
Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Canada Foundation for Innovation
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
Ministry of Education Youth and Sports
European Commission
European Commission
European Commission
European Commission
Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules
Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia
National Research Foundation of Korea
CaixaBank
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
Scientific Education and Research Foundation
Swiss National Science Foundation
Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
UK Research and Innovation
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Royal Society
National Science Foundation
Fermi Research Alliance, LLC

Dates

Accepted
2023-04-27
Accepted
Available
2023-05-23
Published online

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Publication Status
Published