Abstract
A novel scintillator detector, the SuperFGD, has been selected as the main neutrino target for an upgrade of the T2K experiment ND280 near detector. The detector design will allow nearly 4π coverage for neutrino interactions at the near detector and will provide lower energy thresholds, significantly reducing systematic errors for the experiment. The SuperFGD is made of optically-isolated scintillator cubes of size 10×10×10 mm3, providing the required spatial and energy resolution to reduce systematic uncertainties for future T2K runs. The SuperFGD for T2K will have close to two million cubes in a 1920 × 560 × 1840 mm3 volume. A prototype made of 24 × 8 × 48 cubes was tested at a charged particle beamline at the CERN PS facility. The SuperFGD Prototype was instrumented with readout electronics similar to the future implementation for T2K . Results on electronics and detector response are reported in this paper, along with a discussion of the 3D reconstruction capabilities of this type of detector. Several physics analyses with the prototype data are also discussed, including a study of stopping protons.
Highlights
Long plastic scintillator bars arranged perpendicularly to the neutrino beam direction have been used extensively in two Fine Grained Detector’s (FGDs) [1], which are part of the near detector suite (ND280) of T2K [2, 3] and in other experiments such as MINOS [4] and MINERvA [5]
For T2K flux, many outgoing muons and pions have an ionization close to a MIP. Those tracks may travel for some centimeters before escaping the detector such that a precise dE/dx estimate at SuperFGD might help with the particle identification (PID)
A campaign of tests at the cEuropean Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)-Proton Synchrotron (PS) T9 beamline provided the opportunity for detailed studies of a new detector concept based on 3D readout of scintillator cubes with WLS fibers and photosensors, with a dedicated prototype
Summary
Long plastic scintillator bars arranged perpendicularly to the neutrino beam direction have been used extensively in two Fine Grained Detector’s (FGDs) [1], which are part of the near detector suite (ND280) of T2K [2, 3] and in other experiments such as MINOS [4] and MINERvA [5] This geometry is very effective to measure long ranged tracks such as high momentum leptons and hadrons. The construction and testing of the SuperFGD Prototype was motivated by a need to test the scintillator cube assembly method, components in a B-field representative of operational conditions at T2K ND280, readout electronics similar to the final detector and general performance such as calibration, light yields, hit efficiencies, crosstalk, fiber attenuation, time resolution. Effects on scintillators were expected to be negligible in our magnetic field, considering that the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter scintillators show a change in light yield of under 1% with the full ATLAS magnetic field system on [13]
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