Detector R&D for ANNIE and Future Neutrino Experiments

TL;DR

ANNIE is a pioneering neutrino experiment testing new detector technologies like gadolinium water Cherenkov detection and LAPPDs, aiming to improve neutrino interaction measurements and inform future experiments.

Contribution

This work introduces the first application of LAPPDs in neutrino detection and demonstrates their potential impact on neutrino physics measurements.

Findings

First gadolinium-loaded water Cherenkov detector on a neutrino beam

Implementation of LAPPDs with 50 ps timing resolution

Potential exploration of water-based liquid scintillator

Abstract

The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) is designed to serve as a test bed for new detector technologies in future water and liquid scintillator based neutrino experiments. Located on the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab, ANNIE will be the first gadolinium-loaded water Cherenkov detector on a neutrino beam and will provide high statistics measurements of neutron yields from neutrino interactions in water. It is also the first particle physics application of the new photosensor technology: Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors (LAPPDs). With single photon time resolutions of roughly 50 psec and mm-level imaging capabilities, LAPPDs bring considerable new capabilities for neutrino reconstruction in Cherenkov and scintillator detectors. Leveraging this technology to make detailed neutrino measurements, ANNIE will serve as a first demonstration of their impact on physics. In addition to LAPPDs, the ANNIE R&D program will likely explore other new technologies such as the addition of water-based liquid scintillator. The ANNIE Phase II detector is currently under construction and will start to take data in the summer of 2019. In this talk, I will present on the ANNIE detector R&D program and its relevance to current and future neutrino experiments.