Measurement of the liquid argon scintillation pulse shape using differentiable simulation in the coherent CAPTAIN-Mills experiment
The coherent CAPTAIN-Mills (CCM) experiment is a liquid argon (LAr) light collection detector searching for MeV-scale neutrino and beyond Standard Model physics signatures. Two hundred eight-inch photomultiplier tubes instrument the seven-ton fiducial volume with 50% photocathode coverage to detect light produced by charged particles. CCM's light-based approach reduces requirements of LAr purity, compared to other detection technologies, such that sub-MeV particles can be reliably detected without additional LAr filtration and with $\mathcal{O}(1)$ parts per million of common contaminants. We present a measurement of LAr light production and propagation parameters, with uncertainties, obtained from a sample of MeV-scale electromagnetic events. The optimization of this high-dimensional parameter space was facilitated by a differentiable optical photon Monte Carlo simulation and detailed photomultiplier tube response characterization. This result accurately predicts the timing and spatial distribution of light due to scintillation and Cherenkov emission in the detector. This is the first description of photon propagation in LAr to include several effects, including anomalous dispersion of the index of refraction near the ultraviolet resonance, Mie scattering from impurities, and Cherenkov light production.
Authors
- R. Mahapatra
- M. Tripathi
- M. H. Shaevitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7436-8655)
- A. M. Szelc (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4174-4407)
- J. M. Conrad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6393-0438)
- E. Dunton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5630-8651)
- W. C. Louis
- J. R. Distel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7621-0165)
- E.-C. Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1857-980X)
- R. Van Berg
- Juan Carlos D’Olivo
- A. Thompson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9235-0846)
- N. Kamp
- H. Ray
- J. Mirabal
- P. deNiverville
- Michal Mocko
- C. Taylor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9498-153X)
- V. Pandey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3082-7987)
- D. A. Newmark (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7033-2703)
- K. Knickerbocker
- D. Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9617-4739)
- R. T. Thornton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9589-4606)
- M. Chavez-Estrada
- J. Boissevain
- L. Bugel
- M. Gold
- E. Guardincerri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7703-9988)
- Eric Logan Renner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8161-8026)
- R. L. Cooper
- Sandra Biedron
- B. Dutta
- T. J. Schaub (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1214-1164)
- M. Borrego
- A. A. Aguilar-Arevalo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9279-3375)
- D. Poulson
- William Thompson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1893-240X)
- R. G. Van de Water (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1573-327X)
- A. Schneider (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0895-3477)
- D. E. Fields
- D. Smith
- W. Sondheim
- C.J. O’Connor
- C. F. Macias-Acevedo
- J. Mezzetti
Institutions
- New Mexico State University (US)
- Northwestern University (US)
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (US)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- University of New Mexico (US)
- University of South Dakota (US)
- Mitchell Institute (US)
- University of Florida (US)
- Aeron LifeCycles (United States) (US)
- AeroVironment (United States) (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Columbia University (US)
- Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University (US)
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
- Texas A&M University (US)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
- Published
- 2025-09-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/34mf-z6l9
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.25