2023 Abstract from Andrew

Chasing Neutrinos: A Hands-on Journey with LArTPCs

Student: Andrew Gallagher

Scientist Mentor: Monica Nunes

Neutrinos are notorious for being not only one of the most difficult particles to detect, having extremely rare interactions, but also being one of the most mysterious as well. Perhaps one of the most mysterious parts about them is the fact that they oscillate between their different flavors. To investigate this further, a relatively new and more sensitive detector called a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber, (LArTPC), is used to detect the neutrinos. These detectors have two main working parts, the anode plane assembly, and the photon detection assembly. The anode planes are made of thin wires that need to be in perfect working order to function. I conducted 4 tests: continuity to determine the wire integrity, isolation to determine if they are electrically isolated, bias to see if charge is properly distributed, and RC circuit to check the integrity of the resistors and capacitors. All of which worked as intended. Next, the photon detection system uses experimental detectors called ARAPUCAs that have noise to be characterized and in readings eliminated. We set up 2 tests, testing the output of the multiplier without the sensor, and again with the sensor connected, again without input. Finally, I worked to set up a CCTV system inside the cryostat of the Short Baseline Neutrino Near Detector, (SBND) in Fermilab’s scientific Linux. Through this process, I learned how to use Linux and set up the system in an ubuntu virtual machine. Unfortunately, this did not transfer to scientific Linux. Despite this, we were still able to collect recordings. The next steps are to set up an ubuntu docker on the server.