Muon Calibration at SoLid

TL;DR

This paper presents the first energy calibration of the SoLid detector prototype using cosmic muons, demonstrating its capability for precise calibration and background rejection in neutrino measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a novel calibration method using cosmic muons and details the tracking and calibration procedures at the cube level for the SoLid detector.

Findings

Successful energy calibration using cosmic muons

Effective cosmic ray tracking and angular analysis

Estimated time resolution of the detector

Abstract

The SoLid experiment aims to make a measurement of very short distance neutrino oscillations using reactor antineutrinos. Key to its sensitivity are the experiments high spatial and energy resolution, combined with a very suitable reactor source and efficient background rejection. The fine segmentation of the detector (cubes of side 5cm), and ability to resolve signals in space and time, gives SoLid the capability to track cosmic muons. In principle a source of background, these turn into a valuable calibration source if they can be cleanly identified. This work presents the first energy calibration results, using cosmic muons, of the 288kg SoLid prototype SM1. This includes the methodology of tracking at SoLid, cosmic ray angular analyses at the reactor site, estimates of the time resolution, and calibrations at the cube level.