Abstract
The ProtoDUNE-SP detector is a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber with an active volume of 7.2× 6.1× 7.0 m3. It is installed at the CERN Neutrino Platform in a specially-constructed beam that delivers charged pions, kaons, protons, muons and electrons with momenta in the range 0.3 GeV/c to 7 GeV/c. Beam line instrumentation provides accurate momentum measurements and particle identification. The ProtoDUNE-SP detector is a prototype for the first far detector module of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, and it incorporates full-size components as designed for that module. This paper describes the beam line, the time projection chamber, the photon detectors, the cosmic-ray tagger, the signal processing and particle reconstruction. It presents the first results on ProtoDUNE-SP's performance, including noise and gain measurements, dE/dx calibration for muons, protons, pions and electrons, drift electron lifetime measurements, and photon detector noise, signal sensitivity and time resolution measurements. The measured values meet or exceed the specifications for the DUNE far detector, in several cases by large margins. ProtoDUNE-SP's successful operation starting in 2018 and its production of large samples of high-quality data demonstrate the effectiveness of the single-phase far detector design.
Highlights
The neutrino detectors at the far site of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) [1] are planned to be built inside four cryostats, each of which will contain 17.5 kt of liquid argon (LAr)
Installation of the ProtoDUNE-SP detector was completed in early July 2018, the filling of the cryostat with argon was completed by mid-September 2018, and data-taking with the full apparatus started in October 2018
The ProtoDUNE-SP detector is typically triggered at a rate of 1-40 Hz where each trigger record includes synchronized contiguous samples from all time projection chamber (TPC) channels, typically with a length of 3 ms corresponding to 6000 ticks (ADC samples)
Summary
The neutrino detectors at the far site of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) [1] are planned to be built inside four cryostats, each of which will contain 17.5 kt of liquid argon (LAr). In addition to its role as a demonstration prototype and engineering test bed, the ProtoDUNESP TPC was exposed to a tagged and momentum-analyzed particle beam with momentum settings ranging from 0.3 GeV/c to 7 GeV/c This beam enabled the acquisition of large samples of data on the behavior of charged pions, kaons, protons, muons and positive electrons (positrons) in LAr. The beam was set to deliver only positively-charged particles for the data samples used in this paper, future runs will include negatively-charged particle beams. The x axis is horizontal and points along the nominal electric field direction and is perpendicular to the wire planes
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