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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Astrophysics and Astronomy

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Dark Matter

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Calibration Of The Lux-Zeplin Dual-Phase Xenon Time Projection Chamber With Internally Injected Radioisotopes, Christopher D. Nedlik Jun 2022

Calibration Of The Lux-Zeplin Dual-Phase Xenon Time Projection Chamber With Internally Injected Radioisotopes, Christopher D. Nedlik

Doctoral Dissertations

Self-shielding in ton-scale liquid xenon (LXe) detectors presents a unique challenge for calibrating detector response to interactions in the detector's innermost volume. Calibration radioisotopes must be injected directly into the LXe to reach the central volume, where they must either decay away with a short half life or be purified out. We present an overview of, and results from, the prototype source injection system (SIS) developed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment (LZ). The SIS is designed to refine techniques for the injection and removal of precise activities of various calibration radioisotopes that are useful in …


Validation Of Argon From Underground Sources For Use In The Darkside-50 Detector, Thomas R. Alexander Nov 2015

Validation Of Argon From Underground Sources For Use In The Darkside-50 Detector, Thomas R. Alexander

Masters Theses

Liquid argon is an attractive target for dark matter searches due to its low cost and exemplary event discrimination. However, atmospherically derived argon contains the beta-emitter 39Ar which confounds the growth of dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC) style detectors to the ton-scale. The DarkSide Collaboration seeks to bypass this limitation by extracting argon from deep underground, from a location known to contain significantly less 39Ar than atmospherically derived argon. This thesis will summarize the e orts taken to produce the first batch of underground argon, focusing on the first operation of the underground argon in a dual-phase TPC to validate …