Speaker
Description
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a leading international project in neutrino science, aiming to address key questions in particle physics, including neutrino mass ordering, CP violation in the lepton sector, and searches for proton decay and supernova neutrinos. Neutron capture in argon releases a cascade of gamma rays, totaling 6.1 MeV, providing a "standard candle" for absolute energy scale calibration, which is critical for precision measurements. Additionally, neutrons pose a significant background challenge for the DUNE Far Detector in the low-energy range of a few MeV, where neutrons from the surrounding cavern can mimic neutrino interactions. Furthermore, neutrons frequently appear as final-state products in low-energy neutrino interactions with argon. Identifying the neutron capture signature in liquid argon is essential for DUNE’s low-energy physics program.
DUNE's vertical drift (DUNE-VD) prototype employs X-ARAPUCA photon detectors and Charge Readout Planes (CRPs) for light and charge detection—systems that will also be used in the full-scale DUNE-VD module. During calibration efforts, a commercial neutron generator was used to introduce monoenergetic neutrons with an energy of 2.5 MeV into the detector. By combining light and charge information, neutron capture candidates are selected, and energy reconstruction is carried out. Results from the data collected using the pulsed neutron source in the DUNE-VD prototype will be presented at the conference.
