Liquid-organic time projection chamber for detecting low energy antineutrinos

Abstract

A: The MeV region of antineutrino energy is of special interest for physics research and for monitoring nuclear nonproliferation. Whereas liquid scintillation detectors are typically used to detect the Inverse Beta Decay (IBD), it has recently been proposed to detect it with a liquidorganic Time Projection Chamber, which could allow a full reconstruction of the particle tracks of the IBD final state. We present the first comprehensive simulation-based study of the expected signatures. Their unequivocal signature could enable a background-minimized detection of electron antineutrinos using information on energy, location and direction of all final state particles. We show that the positron track reflects the antineutrino's vertex. It can also be used to determine the initial neutrino energy. In addition, we investigate the possibility to reconstruct the antineutrino direction on an event-by-event basis by the energy deposition of the neutron-induced proton recoils. Our simulations indicate that this could be a promising approach which should be further studied through experiments with a detector prototype. K: Charge transport and multiplication in liquid media; Detector modelling and simulations I (interaction of radiation with matter, interaction of photons with matter, interaction of hadrons with matter, etc); Detector modelling and simulations II (electric fields, charge transport, multiplication and induction, pulse formation, electron emission, etc); Liquid detectors; Time projection Chambers (TPC); Neutrino detectors; Particle tracking detectors; Search for radioactive and fissile materials