Electron attenuation measurement using cosmic ray muons at the MicroBooNE LArTPC

TL;DR

This paper reports on measuring electron attenuation in the MicroBooNE liquid argon detector using cosmic ray muons, demonstrating a long electron lifetime that supports effective neutrino detection.

Contribution

It introduces a method to measure electron attenuation using cosmic muons, providing a key performance metric for LArTPC detectors.

Findings

Electron lifetime of at least 18 ms measured

Attenuation time exceeds maximum drift time

Supports efficient neutrino detection in MicroBooNE

Abstract

The MicroBooNE experiment at Fermilab uses liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) technology to study neutrino interactions in argon. A fundamental requirement for LArTPCs is to achieve and maintain a low level of electronegative contaminants in the liquid to minimize the capture of drifting ionization electrons. The attenuation time for the drifting electrons should be long compared to the maximum drift time, so that the signals from particle tracks that generate ionization electrons with long drift paths can be detected efficiently. In this talk we present MicroBooNE measurement of electron attenuation using cosmic ray muons. The result yields a minimum electron 1/e lifetime of 18 ms under typical operating conditions, which is long compared to the maximum drift time of 2.3 ms.