The CYGNO experiment, a directional detector for direct Dark Matter searches

Amaro, F. D.; Baracchini, E.; Benussi, L.; Bianco, S.; Capoccia, C.; Caponero, M.; Cardoso, Danilo Santos; Cavoto, G.; Cortez, A.F.V.; Costa, I. A.; Dané, E.; Dho, Giorgio; Giambattista, Flaminia Di; Marco, E. Di; D'imperio, Giulia; Iacoangeli, F.; Lima, H.P.; Lopes, G. S.; Maccarrone, G.; Mano, R.D.P.; Gregorio, Robert Renz Marcelo; Marques, David José Gaspar; Mazzitelli, G.; McLean, Alasdair Gregor; Messina, A.; Monteiro, C. M. B.; Nobrega, R. Antunes; Pains, Igor Fonseca; Paoletti, Emiloano; Passamonti, L.; Pelosi, Sandro; Petrucci, F.; Piacentini, Stefano; Piccolo, D.; Pierluigi, D.; Pinci, D.; Prajapati, A. K.; Renga, F.; Roque, Rita Joanna da Cruz; Rosatelli, F.; Russo, A.; Santos, J. M. F. dos; Saviano, G.; Spooner, N. J. C.; Tesauro, Roberto; Tommasini, Sandro; Torelli, Samuele

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2023.168325

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Therefore, a gas scintillating in the visible range is needed. For that, CF 4 has proven to be a good choice as it is known to present high scintillation output [18,19]. In addition, noble gas mixtures of lighter noble gases such as Ne or He with CF 4 allow high scintillation output…”

Section: The Pisa Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photon Induced Scintillation Amplifier — The PISA concept

Monteiro,

Mano,

Roque

et al. 2024

J. Inst.

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Photoelectron signal amplification in gas photomultipliers (GPMs) is achieved through charge avalanche development in the holes of a cascade of hole-type microperforated foils. When a voltage difference is applied between the metal film electrodes that are deposited on both surfaces of those foils, an electric field with a high intensity is established inside the holes. As a consequence, each electron entering those holes produces an electron avalanche that emerges from the other side of the holes. A cascade of few foils is necessary for a single primary electron to produce a final avalanche intense enough to be read out, in the anode electrode, above the electronic noise. We propose the Photon Induced Scintillation Amplifier (PISA), where the photoelectron signal amplification is obtained by reading out the photon scintillation produced in the charge avalanches of solely one Micro-Hole-and-Strip-Plate-type microstructure with SiPMs. The optical readout has the advantage of having the extra gain from the photosensor and is less sensitive to electronic noise. A large photosensor gain produces large output signals that can travel over long distances without significant degradation. This allows for the readout electronics to be placed away from the photosensor and, thus, from the detector sensitive volume. The scintillation readout plane can be made of a 2D-array of SiPMs, with size and pitch in accordance with the needed scintillation level and position resolution. A first basic prototype was assembled to present a proof-of-principle of the PISA concept.

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Section: The Pisa Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photon Induced Scintillation Amplifier — The PISA concept

Monteiro,

Mano,

Roque

et al. 2024

J. Inst.

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“…The addition of He would increase the target mass and improve sensitivity to lower WIMP masses, without having a detrimental effect on the recoil track length of 12 C and 19 F nuclei due to its much lower density [1]. A number of researchers have already begun testing these He mixtures [27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Atmospheric mixtures of CF 4 :He in molar ratios of 40:60 and 20:80 have already been successfully demonstrated [29,32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Charge amplification in sub-atmospheric CF₄:He mixtures for directional dark matter searches

McLean,

Spooner,

Crane

et al. 2024

J. Inst.

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Low pressure gaseous Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) are a viable technology for directional Dark Matter (DM) searches and have the potential for exploring the parameter space below the neutrino fog [1,2]. Gases like CF4 are advantageous because they contain flourine which is predicted to have heightened elastic scattering rates with a possible Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) DM candidate [3,4,5]. The low pressure of CF4 must be maintained, ideally lower than 100 Torr, in order to elongate potential Nuclear Recoil (NR) tracks which allows for improved directional sensitivity and NR/Electron Recoil (ER) discrimination [6]. Recent evidence suggests that He can be added to heavier gases, like CF4, without significantly affecting the length of 12C and 19F recoils due to its lower mass. Such addition of He has the advantage of improving sensitivity to lower mass WIMPs [1]. Simulations can not reliably predict operational stability in these low pressure gas mixtures and thus must be demonstrated experimentally. In this paper we investigate how the addition of He to low pressure CF4 affects the gas gain and energy resolution achieved with a single Thick Gaseous Electron Multiplier (ThGEM).

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CYG$$\nu $$S: detecting solar neutrinos with directional gas time projection chambers

Lisotti,

O’Hare,

Baracchini

et al. 2024

Eur. Phys. J. C

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Cygnus is a proposed global network of large-scale gas time projection chambers (TPCs) with the capability of directionally detecting nuclear and electron recoils at $$\gtrsim $$ ≳ keV energies. The primary focus of Cygnus so far has been the detection of dark matter, with directional sensitivity providing a means of circumventing the so-called “neutrino fog”. However, the excellent background rejection and electron/nuclear recoil discrimination provided by the 3-dimensional reconstruction of ionisation tracks could turn the solar neutrino background into an interesting signal in its own right. For example, directionality would facilitate the simultaneous spectroscopy of multiple different flux sources. Here, we evaluate the possibility of measuring solar neutrinos using the same network of gas TPCs built from 10 m$$^3$$ 3 -scale modules operating under conditions that enable simultaneous sensitivity to both dark matter and neutrinos. We focus in particular on electron recoils, which provide access to low-energy neutrino fluxes like pp, pep, $$^7$$ 7 Be, and CNO. An appreciable event rate is already detectable in experiments consisting of a single 10 m$$^3$$ 3 module, assuming standard fill gases such as CF$$_4$$ 4 mixed with helium at atmospheric pressure. With total volumes around 1000 m$$^3$$ 3 or higher, the TPC network could be complementary to dedicated neutrino observatories, whilst entering the dark-matter neutrino fog via the nuclear recoil channel. We evaluate the required directional performance and background conditions to observe, discriminate, and perform spectroscopy on neutrino events. We find that, under reasonable projections for planned technology that will enable 10–30-degree angular resolution and $$\sim 10$$ ∼ 10 % fractional energy resolution, Cygnus could be a competitive directional neutrino experiment.

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The CYGNO experiment, a directional detector for direct Dark Matter searches

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Photon Induced Scintillation Amplifier — The PISA concept

Photon Induced Scintillation Amplifier — The PISA concept

Charge amplification in sub-atmospheric CF₄:He mixtures for directional dark matter searches

CYG$$\nu $$S: detecting solar neutrinos with directional gas time projection chambers

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The CYGNO experiment, a directional detector for direct Dark Matter searches

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Photon Induced Scintillation Amplifier — The PISA concept

Photon Induced Scintillation Amplifier — The PISA concept

Charge amplification in sub-atmospheric CF4:He mixtures for directional dark matter searches

CYG$$\nu $$S: detecting solar neutrinos with directional gas time projection chambers

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Product

Resources

About

Charge amplification in sub-atmospheric CF₄:He mixtures for directional dark matter searches