Liquid argon light collection and veto modeling in GERDA Phase II

Abstract

The ability to detect liquid argon scintillation light from within a densely packed high-purity germanium detector array allowed the GERDA experiment to reach an exceptionally low background rate in the search for neutrinoless double beta decay of ${}^{76}$Ge. Proper modeling of the light propagation throughout the experimental setup, from any origin in the liquid argon volume to its eventual detection by the novel light read-out system, provides insight into the rejection capability and is a necessary ingredient to obtain robust background predictions. In this paper, we present a model of the GERDA liquid argon veto, as obtained by Monte Carlo simulations and constrained by calibration data, and highlight its application for background decomposition.

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• Phase space factors for double-$\beta$ decay
• Final Results of GERDA on the Two-Neutrino Double-$\beta$ Decay Half-Life of ${}^{76}$Ge
• Characterization of Silicon Photomultiplier Photon Detection Efficiency at Liquid Nitrogen Temperature
• Examining LEGEND-1000 cosmogenic neutron backgrounds in Geant4 and MCNP