Imaging in (high pressure) Micromegas TPC detectors

Abstract

The T-REX project of the group of the University of Zaragoza includes a number of R&D and prototyping activities to explore the applicability of gaseous Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) with Micromesh Gas Structures (Micromegas) in rare event searches where the pattern recognition of the signal is crucial for background discrimination. In the CAST experiment (CERN Axion Solar Telescope) a background level as low as 0.8 × 10−6 counts keV−1 cm−2 s−1 was achieved. Prototyping and simulations promise a 105 better signal-to-noise ratio than CAST for the future IAXO (International Axion Observatory) using x-ray telescopes. A new strategy is also explored in the search of WIMPS based on high gas pressure: the TREX-DM experiment, a low energy threshold detector. In both cases, axion and WIMP searches, the image of the expected signal is quite simple: a one cluster deposition coming from the magnet bore in the case of axions and, if possible, with a tadpole form in the case of WIMPs. It is the case of double beta decay (DBD) where imaging and pattern recognition play a major role. Results obtained in Xe + trimethylamine (TMA) mixture point to a reduction in electron diffusion which improves the quality of the topological pattern, with a positive impact on the discrimination capability, as shown in TREX-ββ prototype. Microbulk Micromegas are able to image the DBD ionization signature with high quality while, at the same time, measuring its energy deposition with a resolution of at least a ∼ 3% FWHM at the transition energy Qββ and even better (up to ∼ 1% FWHM) as extrapolated from low energy events. That makes Micromegas-based HPXe TPC a very competitive technique for the next generation DBD experiments (as PANDAX-III). Here, it will be shown the last results of the TREX project detectors and software concerning Axions, Dark matter and double beta decay.