Enhancing Angular Sensitivity of Segmented Antineutrino Detectors for Reactor Monitoring Applications

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new, efficient algorithm for determining antineutrino directionality in segmented detectors, improving accuracy and broadening applications in reactor monitoring.

Contribution

A novel directionality algorithm based on matrix distance measures, with error analysis and validation against Monte Carlo data, enhancing detector analysis methods.

Findings

Identified an optimal segmentation scale in low-count regimes.

Validated the algorithm using Monte Carlo and empirical data.

Discussed limitations of conventional methods and potential applications.

Abstract

We present a potential improvement over the standard method developed to determine antineutrino directionality in inverse-beta-decay detectors. The previously developed method for quantifying directionality in monolithic and segmented detectors may be ambiguous in methodology. In this paper, we present a new directionality algorithm and include error analysis. We have developed a new algorithm based on a measure of ``distance'' between two matrices. We report findings for our research in reactor-antineutrino directionality, and emphasize that the algorithm has broad applications whenever one desires computationally efficient 2D pattern-matching. We treat data from detector segments in the form of a matrix. The validation of our algorithm boils down to comparing a Monte Carlo generated ``empirical'' data set to a simulated data set. The empirical data set is generated for a particular orientation of the neutrino beam. We identify an optimal segmentation scale in the low-count regime. We also discuss the shortcomings of the conventional method and how this knowledge can be applied to segmented detectors, hybrid designs, and generalized validation, agnostic to the physics of detector design.