Design, construction and operation of the ProtoDUNE-SP Liquid Argon TPC

TL;DR

The paper details the design, construction, and successful operation of the ProtoDUNE-SP liquid argon TPC, serving as a prototype for the DUNE far detector with full-scale components and effective performance in beam tests.

Contribution

It presents the first comprehensive account of building and operating a full-scale single-phase liquid argon TPC prototype for neutrino detection.

Findings

Successful operation between 2018 and 2020

Validation of the single-phase detector design

Demonstrated effectiveness for future DUNE deployment

Abstract

The ProtoDUNE-SP detector is a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) that was constructed and operated in the CERN North Area at the end of the H4 beamline. This detector is a prototype for the first far detector module of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), which will be constructed at the Sandford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, USA. The ProtoDUNE-SP detector incorporates full-size components as designed for DUNE and has an active volume of $7\times 6\times 7.2$~m$^3$. The H4 beam delivers incident particles with well-measured momenta and high-purity particle identification. ProtoDUNE-SP's successful operation between 2018 and 2020 demonstrates the effectiveness of the single-phase far detector design. This paper describes the design, construction, assembly and operation of the detector components.