Continuous data acquisition for liquid argon time projection chamber neutrino detectors using FPGA-based real-time compression algorithms

TL;DR

This paper presents FPGA-based real-time compression algorithms enabling continuous data acquisition in liquid argon TPC neutrino detectors, facilitating supernova neutrino burst detection with reduced data rates.

Contribution

It introduces a novel FPGA implementation of real-time compression algorithms for continuous LArTPC data acquisition, enhancing detector capabilities for rare event detection.

Findings

Successful implementation of zero suppression and Huffman compression in FPGA

Reduced data rates enabling continuous acquisition

Potential for supernova neutrino burst detection

Abstract

Liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) have been proposed as neutrino detectors that combine both large sizes to maximize the number of neutrino interactions and detailed recording of the interaction. The readout of thousands of channels at MHz sampling rates produce images of the neutrino-nucleus interaction with millimeter-scale resolution, enabling the identification of the resulting particles and offering multiple handles to measure their energies at the expense of large data rates. Continuous acquisition of the LArTPC data is required to enable the use of high-latency triggers for capturing non-accelerator-beam events. We describe the case of the continuous readout of the MicroBooNE LArTPC, that grants the possibility of acquiring the neutrino burst from a supernova using the SNEWS (Supernova Early Warning System) alert as delayed trigger. The continuous data acquisition is accomplished by using real-time compression algorithms (zero suppression and Huffman compression) implemented in an FPGA in the readout electronics.