DUSEL R&D Proposal: R&D Program to Develop Novel Cryogenic Tracking Detectors for Underground Experiments

根据标准太阳模型，太阳的大部分能量由pp聚变反应产生的中微子携带。这些中微子的光谱和速率的精确测量是2004年APS中微子矩阵报告等定义的三个高度优先目标之一。这些测量将对我们目前的中微子振荡模型进行基本测试，这是对太阳等恒星中非标准过程的重要限制，并为研究可能导致意外发现的极低能量中微子相互作用打开了一扇新的窗口。这项提议要求资金开发一种新的探测器，可以使用时间投影技术实时测量极低能量、低至几keV的太阳中微子，在大体积(超过一吨)中具有良好的空间和能量分辨率。该探测器采用低温流体Ne和氦作为探测介质，在其中产生电子气泡、电子气泡、电子气泡和电子气泡。沿着探测器中中微子相互作用产生的反冲电子的轨迹形成。这些电子气泡在电场中漂移到一系列气体电子倍增器，在那里它们被放大，并用商用CCD相机进行光学探测。教育和外展一直是这个研发项目自成立以来的主要重点。这种探测器--S读出概念可能也适用于其他一些需要跟踪大体积低能粒子的杜塞尔实验，例如暗物质跟踪探测器，以及为大型双β衰变实验提出的一些方法。他们积极参与面向高中教师和学生的QuarkNet计划，将他们的扩展活动扩展到与该探测器研发计划直接相关的活动之外，以包括其他粒子物理主题，以及宇宙线探测器的实验工作。

According to the Standard Solar Model, most of the energy of the Sun is carried by neutrinos from the pp fusion reaction. A precision measurement of the spectrum and rate of these neutrinos is one of the three high priority goals defined by the 2004 APS Neutrino Matrix report, among others. These measurements will provide a fundamental test of our current model of neutrino oscillations, an important constraint on non-standard processes in stars such as our Sun, and open a new window on very low energy neutrino interactions which may lead to unexpected discoveries.This proposal requests funds to develop a novel detector that will allow a real-time measurement of very low energy solar neutrinos, down to a few keV, with excellent spatial and energy resolution in large volumes (more than a ton), using a time projection technique. The detector uses the cryogenic fluids neon and helium as the detection medium, in which ?electron bubbles? form along the track of a recoil electron produced by a neutrino interaction in the detector. These electron bubbles are drifted in an electric field to an array of Gas Electron Multipliers, where they are amplified and optically detected with commercial CCD cameras. Education and Outreach have been a major emphasis of this R&D program since its inception. This detector?s readout concept may also be suited to a number of other DUSEL experiments requiring tracking of low energy particles in large volumes, for example dark matter tracking detectors, and some of the approaches proposed for a large double beta decay experiment. They are active in the QuarkNet program for high school teachers and students, extending their outreach activities beyond those directly related to this detector R&D program to include other particle physics topics, and experimental work on cosmic ray detectors.