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At least 109 records · Page 6

First operation of a multi-channel Q-Pix prototype: measuring transverse electron diffusion in a gas time projection chamber

We report measurements of the transverse diffusion of electrons in P-10 gas (90% Ar, 10% CH 4 ) in a laboratory-scale time projection chamber (TPC) utilizing a novel pixelated signal capture and digitization technique known as Q-Pix. The Q-Pix method incorporates a precision switched integrating transimpedance amplifier whose output is compared to a threshold voltage. Upon reaching the threshold, a comparator sends a 'reset' signal, initiating a discharge of the integrating capacitor. The time difference between successive resets is inversely proportional to the average current at the pixel in that time interval, and the number of resets is directly proportional to the total collected charge. We developed a 16-channel Q-Pix prototype fabricated from commercial off-the-shelf components and coupled them to 16 concentric annular anode electrodes to measure the spatial extent of the electron swarm that reaches the anode after drifting through the uniform field of the TPC. The swarm is produced at a gold photocathode using pulsed UV light. The measured transverse diffusion agrees with simulations in PyBoltz across a range of operating pressures (200–1500 Torr). These results demonstrate that a Q-Pix readout can successfully reconstruct the ionization topology in a TPC.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Design, characterization and installation of the NEXT-100 cathode and electroluminescence regions

NEXT-100 is currently being constructed at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc in the Spanish Pyrenees and will search for neutrinoless double beta decay using a high-pressure gaseous time projection chamber (TPC) with 100 kg of xenon. Charge amplification is carried out via electroluminescence (EL) which is the process of accelerating electrons in a high electric field region causing secondary scintillation of the medium proportional to the initial charge. The NEXT-100 EL and cathode regions are made from tensioned hexagonal meshes of 1 m diameter. This paper describes the design, characterization, and installation of these parts for NEXT-100. Simulations of the electric field are performed to model the drift and amplification of ionization electrons produced in the detector under various EL region alignments and rotations. Measurements of the electrostatic breakdown voltage in air characterize performance under high voltage conditions and identify breakdown points. Furthermore, the electrostatic deflection of the mesh is quantified and fit to a first-principles mechanical model. Measurements were performed with both a standalone test EL region and with the NEXT-100 EL region before its installation in the detector. Finally, we describe the parts as installed in NEXT-100, following their deployment in Summer 2023.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Benchmarking the design of the cryogenics system for the underground argon in DarkSide-20k

DarkSide-20k (DS-20k) is a dark matter detection experimentunder construction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS)in Italy. It utilises ∼ 100 t of low radioactivity argon from anunderground source (UAr) in its inner detector, with half serving astarget in a dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC). The UArcryogenics system must maintain stable thermodynamic conditionsthroughout the experiment's lifetime of over10 years. Continuous removal ofimpurities and radon from the UAr is essential for maximising signalyield and mitigating background. We are developing an efficient andpowerful cryogenics system with a gas purification loop with atarget circulation rate of1000 slpm. Central to itsdesign is a condenser operated with liquid nitrogen which is pairedwith a gas heat exchanger cascade, delivering a combined coolingpower of more than 8 kW. Here wepresent the design choices in view of the DS-20k requirements, inparticular the condenser's working principle and the coolingcontrol, and we show test results obtained with a dedicatedbenchmarking platform at CERN and LNGS. We find that the thermalefficiency of the recirculation loop, defined in terms of nitrogenconsumption per argon flow rate, is95 % and the pressure in the testcryostat can be maintained within±(0.1–0.2) mbar. Wefurther detail a 5-day cool-down procedure of the test cryostat,maintaining a cooling rate typically within-2 K/h, as required for theDS-20k inner detector. Additionally, we assess the circuit's flowresistance, and the heat transfer capabilities of two heat exchangergeometries for argon phase change, used to provide gas forrecirculation. We conclude by discussing how our findings influencethe finalisation of the system design, including necessarymodifications to meet requirements and ongoing testing activities.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Event reconstruction in a liquid xenon Time Projection Chamber with an optically-open field cage

nEXO is a proposed tonne-scale neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) experiment using liquid 136 Xe (LXe) in a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) to read out ionization and scintillation signals. Between the field cage and the LXe vessel, a layer of LXe (“skin” LXe) is present, where no ionization signal is collected. Only scintillation photons are detected, owing to the lack of optical barrier around the field cage. Here, in this work, we show that the light originating in the skin LXe region can be used to improve background discrimination by 5% over previous published estimates. This improvement comes from two elements. First, a fraction of the γ-ray background is removed by identifying light from interactions with an energy deposition in the skin LXe. Then, background from 222 Rn dissolved in the skin LXe can be efficiently rejected by tagging the α decay in the 214 Bi- 214 Po chain in the skin LXe.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Purity monitoring for ProtoDUNE

The next-generation neutrino experiment, DUNE, will utilize a high-intensity neutrino beam produced to measure electron-neutrino appearance and muon-neutrino disappearance with its 40 kilotons (fiducial mass) liquid argon far detector. Liquid argon purity is crucial to use liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPC) in DUNE’s large detectors. A purity monitor is a miniature TPC that measures the lifetime of photoelectrons generated by its UV-illuminated gold photocathode to measure the purity of liquid argon. ProtoDUNEs are full-scale DUNE prototype LArTPCs built at CERNand perform beam tests. The following will discuss the design, implementation, and results of liquid argon purity monitors deployed in ProtoDUNE.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Observation of radon mitigation in MicroBooNE by a liquid argon filtration system

We report the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) maintains a high level of liquid argon purity through the use of a filtration system that removes electronegative contaminants in continuously-circulated liquid, recondensed boil off, and externally supplied argon gas. We use the MicroBooNE LArTPC to reconstruct MeV-scale radiological decays. Using this technique we measure the liquid argon filtration system's efficacy at removing radon. This is studied by placing a 500 kBq 222 Rn source upstream of the filters and searching for a time-dependent increase in the number of radiological decays in the LArTPC. In the context of two models for radon mitigation via a liquid argon filtration system, a slowing mechanism and a trapping mechanism, MicroBooNE data supports a radon reduction factor of greater than 97% or 99.999%, respectively. Furthermore, a radiological survey of the filters found that the copper-based filter material was the primary medium that removed the 222 Rn. This is the first observation of radon mitigation in liquid argon with a large-scale copper-based filter and could offer a radon mitigation solution for future large LArTPCs.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Design and implementation of the new scintillation light detection system of ICARUS T600

ICARUS T600 is the far detector of the Short Baseline Neutrino program at Fermilab (U.S.A.), which foresees three Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers along the Booster Neutrino Beam line to search for LSND-like sterile neutrino signal. The T600 detector underwent a significant overhauling process at CERN, introducing new technological developments while maintaining the already achieved performances. The realization of a new liquid argon scintillation light detection system is a primary task of the detector overhaul. As the detector will be subject to a huge flux of cosmic rays, the light detection system should allow the 3D reconstruction of events contributing to the identification of neutrino interactions in the beam spill gate. The design and implementation of the new scintillation light detection system of ICARUS T600 is described.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Neutron Identification Capabilities in MicroBooNE Through the Application of Machine Learning with Blips

Neutrinos (ν) are subatomic particles first observed in 1956 by LANL physicists Clyde Cowan and Frederick Reines but first theorized by Wolfgang Pauli in 1930. Neutrinos are the least massive known particle and are classified as leptons with 3 flavors corresponding to their leptonic counterparts (electron, muon, and tau). We know that they are abundant, 65 billion neutrinos travel through your fingertip every second, and elusive, a single neutrino could fly through a lightyear of lead without interacting at all. Though, there is much still unknown and a better characterization of these “ghostly” particles can give us clues as to the matter/anti-matter asymmetry in the early universe and possible glimpses into new physics. To measure a particle that is extremely light and rarely interacting, physicists have developed an extremely sensitive detector known as a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC). The fiducial volume (or TPC) is bombarded with neutrinos, some of which interact with argon (Ar) atoms to produce particles that in turn excite and ionize the Ar. The products of these are free electrons which then drift through the TPC’s applied magnetic field towards a multi-plane wire readout system. The electrons’ charge is collected at this anode and the light from the initial interactions is collected by photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). In conjunction, these mechanisms allow LArTPCs to achieve millimeter spatial resolution and sub-MeV energy thresholds. The detector of interest in this study is the MicroBooNE Experiment at Fermilab. MicroBooNE is an above ground LArTPC with dimensions of approximately 10m × 2.5m × 2.3m, about the size of a school bus. Its purpose is to study neutrinos, so to improve rates of measured ν interactions, the detector is squarely in the path of the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. A major challenge in neutrino studies is energy reconstruction, much of the neutrino’s original energy is lost in interactions that the detector is not sensitive to, often due to low-energy products. The initial goal of this analysis was to better identify neutrons, the main source of poor energy reconstruction in neutrino events. Because neutrons are neutral particles, like neutrinos, we can only directly measure the products of their interactions in LArTPCs. Most of these products are low-energy signals and while each one contributes a negligible amount of energy, collectively these signals make up most of the lost energy in each neutrino event. We define these signals as blips; point-like, isolated depositions of charge in the detector. Blips have MeV-scale energies and are the size of a single hit (charge deposition) or a cluster of a few hits on at least two wire planes. Blips are the principal detector features used to study low-energy physics; thus, they are the key to unlocking information not only about neutrons but gamma photons, supernova and solar neutrinos as well as helping us better identify certain particles. Therefore, this analysis strives to use blips for improved neutron identification (ID) and characterization.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Quality assurance and quality control of the $26~\text {m}^2$ SiPM production for the DarkSide-20k dark matter experiment

DarkSide-20k is a novel liquid argon dark matter detector currently under construction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) that will push the sensitivity for Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) detection into the neutrino fog. The core of the apparatus is a dual-phase Time Projection Chamber (TPC), filled with 50 tonnes of low radioactivity underground argon (UAr) acting as the WIMP target. NUV-HD-cryo Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM)s designed by Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) (Trento, Italy) were selected as the photon sensors covering two $10.5~\text {m}^2$ Optical Planes, one at each end of the TPC, and a total of $5~\text {m}^2$ photosensitive surface for the liquid argon veto detectors. This paper describes the Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) plan and procedures accompanying the production of FBK NUV-HD-cryo SiPM wafers manufactured by LFoundry s.r.l. (Avezzano, AQ, Italy). SiPM characteristics are measured at 77 K at the wafer level with a custom-designed probe station. As of March 2025, 1314 of the 1400 production wafers (94% of the total) for DarkSide-20k were tested. The wafer yield is $93.2\pm 2.5$%, which exceeds the 80% specification defined in the original DarkSide-20k production plan.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

A study of events with photoelectric emission in the DarkSide-50 liquid argon Time Projection Chamber

Finding unequivocal evidence of dark matter interactions in a particle detector is a major goal of research in physics. Liquid argon time projection chambers offer a path to probe Weakly Interacting Massive Particles scattering cross sections on nuclei down to the so-called neutrino floor, in a mass range from a few GeV to hundreds of TeV. Based on the successful operation of the DarkSide-50 detector at LNGS, a new and more sensitive experiment, DarkSide-20k, has been designed and is now under construction. A thorough understanding of the DarkSide-50 detector response and, therefore, of all types of events observed in the detector, is essential for the optimal design of the new experiment. In this article, we report on a specific set of events, namely, standard two-pulse scintillation–ionization signals with a third small amplitude pulse, occurring within the 440 μ s data acquisition window of standard events. Some of these events are due to the photoionization of the TPC cathode. We compare our results with those published by collaborations using liquid xenon time projection chambers, which observed a similar phenomenon, and, in particular, with a recent paper by the LUX Collaboration (D.S. Akerib et al. Phys.Rev.D 102, 092004 (2020)) From the measured rate of these events, we estimate for the first time the quantum efficiency of the tetraphenyl butadiene deposited on the DarkSide-50 cathode at wavelengths of around 128 nm, in liquid argon. Also, both experiments observe events likely related to the photoionization of impurities in the liquid. The probability of photoelectron emission per unit length turns out to be an order of magnitude lower in DarkSide-50 than in LUX.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Characterization of spurious-electron signals in the double-phase argon TPC of the DarkSide-50 experiment

Spurious-electron signals in dual-phase noble-liquid time projection chambers have been observed in both xenon and argon Time Projection Chambers (TPCs). This paper presents the first comprehensive study of spurious electrons in argon, using data collected by the DarkSide-50 experiment at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). Understanding these events is a key factor in improving the sensitivity of low-mass dark matter searches exploiting ionization signals in dual-phase noble liquid TPCs. We find that a significant fraction of spurious-electron events, ranging from 30 to 70% across the experiment's lifetime, are caused by electrons captured from impurities and later released with delays of order 5-50 ms. The rate of spurious-electron events is found to correlate with the operational condition of the purification system and the total event rate in the detector. Finally, we present evidence that multi-electron spurious electron events may originate from photo-ionization of the steel grid used to define the electric fields. These observations indicate the possibility of reduction of the background in future experiments and hint at possible spurious electron production mechanisms.

Agnes, P. [GSSI, Aquila; Gran Sasso]↗

Retrofitting Holcim Ste. Genevieve Cement Plant with CO2 Capture Plant Using Air Liquide Cryocap™ FG Technology

The global cement manufacturing industry is a major contributor to carbon dioxide emissions. The International Energy Agency's "Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario" identifies CCS as a major strategy for meeting that goal. This project is among the first attempts to transfer capture technology developed at coal-fired power plants to the cement industry. The main objective of the project is to execute and complete a front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies for commercial-scale, carbon capture projects that separates 95% of the total CO2 emissions at the Holcim (US) Ste. Genevieve cement manufacturing facility using Air Liquide’s Pressure Swing Adsorption system (PSA) assisted Cryocap™ technology. The Holcim Ste. Genevieve cement plant in Missouri, US, boasts one of the largest single cement production lines in the world, with a capacity of approximately 12,000 t/day. The plant currently uses traditional fuels, namely coal and petcoke. The captured CO2 will be pipeline and geological storage grade. The industrial host site emits approximately 3.0 million tonne CO2/yr. Air Liquide’s Cryocap™ technology has been developed over the last 18+ years for CO2 capture applications. It has been shown to be applicable to a variety of industrial applications (e.g., steel, cement, SMR, Fluidized Catalytic Crackers (FCCs)). Cryocap™ FG consists of a Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) unit coupled with a Cryogenic System. The PSA pre-concentrates the CO2 from the flue gas, while the cryogenic unit enables the CO2 purity to be increased to the desired level. The project team is led by the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The tasks include: complete FEED study for retrofitting the industrial facility with a carbon capture system to support developing a detailed cost estimate; business case analysis outlining the anticipated revenue and credits if projects was built and operated; technoeconomic analysis (TEA) outlining how capture system achieves DOE capture goals; and life cycle (LCA) analysis demonstrating zero net carbon emissions. The FEED study was successfully completed. This includes completing the process basis of design; preliminary engineering; outside battery limits (OSBL) detailed engineering including a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) wastewater treatment system; inside battery limits (ISBL) detailed engineering [1]. An overall project capital cost estimate within a -20%/+30% accuracy was developed. The major contributors to the Total Plant Cost (TPC), by system, are the costs associated with the Outside Battery Limit (OSBL) section of the plant which includes a new river water intake structure and a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system. By cost category, the major contributors to the TPC are equipment and subcontractor costs, followed closely by engineering, construction management, home office and contractor fees. The TEA has been created to reflect the findings of the project. It analyzes the economic performance of the Cryocap™ technology by reviewing the estimated capital costs, operating cost, and revenue. The Cost of Capture (COC) associated with the Cryocap™ technology for 95% CO2 capture, when considering NETL 2018 economic assumptions (42/58 debt/equity ratio, 5.15% interest on debt and 1.42% return on equity in real dollars) and 2022 economic assumptions (42/58 debt/equity ratio, 8.82% interest on debt and 4.90% return on equity in real dollars) was found to be much lower than that for the DOE-NETL’s base-line cases. The highest contributors to the COC are annualized capital expenditures (CAPEX) and electricity consumption which can be offset by using lower cost renewable sources. The LCA was conducted using OpenLCA which is an open-source software that is recommended by NETL. The database utilized for this study was a modified version of TRACI 2.1 (developed by the US. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory and modified by NETL). The Cryocap™ FG technology does not consume fuels in significant quantities and does not utilize specialized chemical solvents subject to decomposition, such as those utilized in amine-based carbon capture systems. The Cryocap™ FG technology mainly utilizes electricity as its energy input; hence, its calculated emissions are mainly associated with the generation of electricity offsite and are dependent on the energy matrix of the grid at the time of project implementation. The water consumption impact of the Cryocap™ FG is mostly for makeup of the water lost by evaporation in the cooling tower; however, the carbon capture plant will be equipped with a ZLD system to avoid effluent streams and minimize water consumption. The successful construction and operation of this plant based on this study results will provide a means to demonstrate an economically attractive and transformational capture technology that can be used to retrofit existing plants and be deployed at new plants.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Electromagnetic shower reconstruction and energy validation with Michel electrons and π 0 samples for the deep-learning-based analyses in MicroBooNE

This article presents the reconstruction of the electromagnetic activity from electrons and photons (showers) used in the MicroBooNE deep learning-based low energy electron search. The reconstruction algorithm uses a combination of traditional and deep learning-based techniques to estimate shower energies. We validate these predictions using two v μ -sourced data samples: charged/neutral current interactions with final state neutral pions and charged current interactions in which the muon stops and decays within the detector producing a Michel electron. Both the neutral pion sample and Michel electron sample demonstrate agreement between data and simulation. Finally, the absolute shower energy scale is shown to be consistent with the relevant physical constant of each sample: the neutral pion mass peak and the Michel energy cutoff.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Evaluating the ProtoDUNE-SP Detector Performance to Measure a 6 GeV/c Positive Kaon Inelastic Cross Section on Argon

The ProtoDUNE Single-Phase Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber \\ (ProtoDUNE-SP LArTPC) is a prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), a future long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. Based at the CERN Neutrino Platform, ProtoDUNE-SP LArTPC collected data from a charged test beam in the fall of 2018. It then took data of cosmic-ray muons from November 2018 to the summer of 2020. The main goals of the prototype were to measure parameters related to charged particle passage in argon and evaluate the performance of the detector to inform future DUNE Far Detector development. The test beam provided kaons, pions, muons, protons, and electrons to the detector. These particles represent common final state particles in neutrino interactions, therefore providing information to DUNE on modeling charged particles in argon for its neutrino physics program. In addition to neutrino physics, DUNE has proposed an analysis using the DUNE Far Detector module to set limits for proton decay through the decay channel $p\rightarrow K^++\bar{\nu}$. This measurement would require information on kaons in argon, providing ProtoDUNE-SP LArTPC another opportunity to aid DUNE. This thesis describes the calibration of ProtoDUNE-SP and its detector performance, which serves as a benchmark for the performance of the DUNE Far Detector modules. A specific calibration highlighted is the evaluation of the liquid argon purity in the detector. These measurements use cosmic-ray muons reconstructed in the detector that are calibrated and matched to data from scintillator strips external to the TPC, known as the Cosmic Ray Tagger (CRT). The thesis will discuss the algorithms to match the data between the ProtoDUNE-SP LArTPC and the CRT and discuss the liquid argon purity measurements using one of the algorithms. Data sets of calibrated tracks measured the liquid argon contamination as consistently below 100 ppt oxygen equivalent. After these discussions on the ProtoDUNE-SP LArTPC detector, the thesis will present an evaluation of the inclusive inelastic, sometimes referred to as a reactive, cross section on argon of kaons from the ProtoDUNE-SP test beam with an average momentum of 6 GeV/c.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

The electric field dependence of single electron emission in the PIXeY two-phase xenon detector

Dual phase xenon detectors are widely used in experimental searches for galactic dark matter particles. The origin of single electron backgrounds following prompt scintillation and proportional scintillation signals in these detectors is not fully understood, although there has been progress in recent years. Here, in this paper, we describe single electron backgrounds in 83m Kr calibration events and their correlation with drift and extraction fields, using the Particle Identification in Xenon at Yale (PIXeY) dual-phase xenon time projection chamber. The single electron background induced by the Fowler-Nordheim (FN) effect is measured, and its electric field dependence is quantified. The photoionization of grids and impurities by prompt scintillation and proportional scintillation also contributes to the single electron background.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Analysis and Validation of PMT s Waveforms in ICARUS LArTPC Using Monte Carlo Simulations

ICARUS (Imaging Cosmic and Rare Underground Signals) serves as the Far Detector in the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab, playing a central role in investigating the potential existence of sterile neutrinos in the eV squared mass range. The detector consists of two large Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) with a total capacity of 760 tons of liquid Argon. A key component of the system is its array of 360 Photo-Multiplier Tubes (PMTs), which detect the scintillation light produced by charged particles in liquid Argon; the fast scintillation signal enables accurate event timing, triggering, and reconstruction. Together with the TPC and CRT systems, the PMTs ensure precise interaction time measurements, which are crucial for distinguishing neutrino interactions from cosmic-ray backgrounds. ICARUS uses Hamamatsu R5912-MOD PMTs, optimized for cryogenic temperatures, with high quantum efficiency, excellent timing resolution, low dark current (around 10 nA at 1500 V), and broad spectral sensitivity (300–650 nm). These characteristics are crucial for the efficient detection of scintillation light. Analyzing the waveforms of PMT signals allows for a detailed comparison between experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations. This analysis is fundamental for improving the accuracy of neutrino event reconstruction, enhancing detector calibration, and optimizing the detector's performance for current and future operations.

Brio, V. [Catania U.] (ORCID:0009000088807391)↗

Construction of precision wire readout planes for the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND)

The Short-Baseline Near Detector time projection chamber is unique in the design of its charge readout planes. These anode plane assemblies (APAs) have been fabricated and assembled to meet strict accuracy and precision requirements: wire spacing of 3 mm ± 0.5 mm and wire tension of 7 N ± 1 N across 3,964 wires per APA, and flatness within 0.5 mm over the 4 m × 2.5 m extent of each APA . Here, we describe the design, manufacture and assembly of these key detector components, with a focus on the quality assurance at each stage.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Performance of the ICARUS Trigger System at the Booster and NuMI Neutrino Beams †

The ICARUS-T600 liquid argon time projection chamber detector takes data at a shallow depth as the far detector of the Short Baseline Neutrino program at Fermilab, searching for sterile neutrinos with the Booster and Main Injector neutrino beams. The ICARUS trigger system exploits the temporal coincidence of the beams with scintillation light signals detected by 360 photo-multiplier tubes in limited TPC regions. The trigger efficiency measurement leverages cosmic rays collected without any scintillation light requirement, with timing from an external cosmic ray tagger system. The efficiency measured with stopping muons roughly saturates at ∼300 MeV, covering most of the expected energy range of charged-current neutrino interactions. For the latest ICARUS physics runs, special “adder” boards performing the analog sum of light signals were introduced as a complementary trigger to possibly recover low-energy neutrino interactions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗