Expected performance of an ideal liquid argon neutrino detector with enhanced sensitivity to scintillation light

Abstract

Scintillation light is used in liquid argon (LAr) neutrino detectors to provide a trigger signal, veto information against cosmic rays, and absolute event timing. In this work, we discuss additional opportunities offered by detectors with enhanced sensitivity to scintillation light, that is with light collection efficiencies of about $10^{-3}$. We focus on two key detector performance indicators for neutrino oscillation physics: calorimetric neutrino energy reconstruction and neutrino/antineutrino separation in a non-magnetized detector. Our results are based on detailed simulations, with neutrino interactions modelled according to the GENIE event generator, while the charge and light responses of a large LAr ideal detector are described by the Geant4 and NEST simulation tools. A neutrino energy resolution as good as 3.3\% RMS for 4 GeV electron neutrino charged-current interactions can in principle be obtained in a large detector of this type, by using both charge and light information. By exploiting muon capture in argon and scintillation light information to veto muon decay electrons, we also obtain muon neutrino identification efficiencies of about 50\%, and muon antineutrino misidentification rates at the few percent level, for few-GeV neutrino interactions that are fully contained. We argue that the construction of large LAr detectors with sufficiently high light collection efficiencies is in principle possible.

arXiv comment26 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. Version accepted for publication in JINST

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• Understanding the energy resolution of liquid argon neutrino detectors
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• Neutrino oscillations at DUNE with improved energy reconstruction
• Wavelength shifters for applications in liquid argon detectors
• Calorimetry for low-energy electrons using charge and light in liquid argon
• Polyethylene naphthalate film as a wavelength shifter in liquid argon detectors
• LArIAT: Liquid Argon In A Testbeam
• Neutrino Mass Ordering at DUNE: an Extra $\nu$-Bonus
• Predicting Transport Effects of Scintillation Light Signals in Large-Scale Liquid Argon Detectors
• Simulating hadron test beams in liquid argon
• MCP-based Photodetectors for Cryogenic Applications
• Can strangelets be detected in a large LAr neutrino detector?
• Developing Scintillation Light Readout Simulation for the SBND experiment
• Anode-Coupled Readout for Light Collection in Liquid Argon TPCs
• First Run of the LArIAT Testbeam Experiment