European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields (May 2020)
Theia: an advanced optical neutrino detector
- M. Askins,
- Z. Bagdasarian,
- N. Barros,
- E. W. Beier,
- E. Blucher,
- R. Bonventre,
- E. Bourret,
- E. J. Callaghan,
- J. Caravaca,
- M. Diwan,
- S. T. Dye,
- J. Eisch,
- A. Elagin,
- T. Enqvist,
- V. Fischer,
- K. Frankiewicz,
- C. Grant,
- D. Guffanti,
- C. Hagner,
- A. Hallin,
- C. M. Jackson,
- R. Jiang,
- T. Kaptanoglu,
- J. R. Klein,
- Yu. G. Kolomensky,
- C. Kraus,
- F. Krennrich,
- T. Kutter,
- T. Lachenmaier,
- B. Land,
- K. Lande,
- J. G. Learned,
- V. Lozza,
- L. Ludhova,
- M. Malek,
- S. Manecki,
- J. Maneira,
- J. Maricic,
- J. Martyn,
- A. Mastbaum,
- C. Mauger,
- F. Moretti,
- J. Napolitano,
- B. Naranjo,
- M. Nieslony,
- L. Oberauer,
- G. D. Orebi Gann,
- J. Ouellet,
- T. Pershing,
- S. T. Petcov,
- L. Pickard,
- R. Rosero,
- M. C. Sanchez,
- J. Sawatzki,
- S. H. Seo,
- M. Smiley,
- M. Smy,
- A. Stahl,
- H. Steiger,
- M. R. Stock,
- H. Sunej,
- R. Svoboda,
- E. Tiras,
- W. H. Trzaska,
- M. Tzanov,
- M. Vagins,
- C. Vilela,
- Z. Wang,
- J. Wang,
- M. Wetstein,
- M. J. Wilking,
- L. Winslow,
- P. Wittich,
- B. Wonsak,
- E. Worcester,
- M. Wurm,
- G. Yang,
- M. Yeh,
- E. D. Zimmerman,
- S. Zsoldos,
- K. Zuber
Affiliations
- M. Askins
- Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
- Z. Bagdasarian
- Forschungszentrum Jülich, Institute for Nuclear Physics
- N. Barros
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania
- E. W. Beier
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania
- E. Blucher
- Department of Physics, The Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago
- R. Bonventre
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- E. Bourret
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- E. J. Callaghan
- Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
- J. Caravaca
- Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
- M. Diwan
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- S. T. Dye
- University of Hawai’i at Manoa
- J. Eisch
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
- A. Elagin
- Department of Physics, The Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago
- T. Enqvist
- Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä
- V. Fischer
- University of California, Davis
- K. Frankiewicz
- Department of Physics, Boston University
- C. Grant
- Department of Physics, Boston University
- D. Guffanti
- Institute of Physics and Excellence Cluster PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
- C. Hagner
- Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg
- A. Hallin
- Department of Physics, University of Alberta
- C. M. Jackson
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- R. Jiang
- Department of Physics, The Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago
- T. Kaptanoglu
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania
- J. R. Klein
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania
- Yu. G. Kolomensky
- Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
- C. Kraus
- Department of Physics, Laurentian University
- F. Krennrich
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
- T. Kutter
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University
- T. Lachenmaier
- Kepler Center for Astro and Particle Physics, Universität Tübingen
- B. Land
- Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
- K. Lande
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania
- J. G. Learned
- University of Hawai’i at Manoa
- V. Lozza
- Faculdade de Ciências (FCUL), Departamento de Física, Campo Grande, Edifício C8, Universidade de Lisboa
- L. Ludhova
- Forschungszentrum Jülich, Institute for Nuclear Physics
- M. Malek
- Physics and Astronomy, Western Bank, University of Sheffield
- S. Manecki
- Department of Physics, Laurentian University
- J. Maneira
- Faculdade de Ciências (FCUL), Departamento de Física, Campo Grande, Edifício C8, Universidade de Lisboa
- J. Maricic
- University of Hawai’i at Manoa
- J. Martyn
- Institute of Physics and Excellence Cluster PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
- A. Mastbaum
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- C. Mauger
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania
- F. Moretti
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- J. Napolitano
- Department of Physics, Temple University
- B. Naranjo
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles
- M. Nieslony
- Institute of Physics and Excellence Cluster PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
- L. Oberauer
- Physik-Department and Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München
- G. D. Orebi Gann
- Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
- J. Ouellet
- Department of Physics and Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- T. Pershing
- University of California, Davis
- S. T. Petcov
- SISSA/INFN
- L. Pickard
- University of California, Davis
- R. Rosero
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- M. C. Sanchez
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
- J. Sawatzki
- Physik-Department and Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München
- S. H. Seo
- Center for Underground Physics, Institute for Basic Science
- M. Smiley
- Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
- M. Smy
- Department of Physics, University of California, Irvine
- A. Stahl
- Physikzentrum RWTH Aachen
- H. Steiger
- Physik-Department and Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München
- M. R. Stock
- Physik-Department and Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München
- H. Sunej
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- R. Svoboda
- University of California, Davis
- E. Tiras
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
- W. H. Trzaska
- Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä
- M. Tzanov
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University
- M. Vagins
- Department of Physics, University of California, Irvine
- C. Vilela
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of New York at Stony Brook
- Z. Wang
- Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University
- J. Wang
- University of California, Davis
- M. Wetstein
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
- M. J. Wilking
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of New York at Stony Brook
- L. Winslow
- Department of Physics and Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- P. Wittich
- Cornell University
- B. Wonsak
- Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg
- E. Worcester
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- M. Wurm
- Institute of Physics and Excellence Cluster PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
- G. Yang
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of New York at Stony Brook
- M. Yeh
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- E. D. Zimmerman
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder
- S. Zsoldos
- Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
- K. Zuber
- Institut für Kern und Teilchenphysik, TU Dresden
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-7977-8
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 80,
no. 5
pp. 1 – 31
Abstract
Abstract New developments in liquid scintillators, high-efficiency, fast photon detectors, and chromatic photon sorting have opened up the possibility for building a large-scale detector that can discriminate between Cherenkov and scintillation signals. Such a detector could reconstruct particle direction and species using Cherenkov light while also having the excellent energy resolution and low threshold of a scintillator detector. Situated deep underground, and utilizing new techniques in computing and reconstruction, this detector could achieve unprecedented levels of background rejection, enabling a rich physics program spanning topics in nuclear, high-energy, and astrophysics, and across a dynamic range from hundreds of keV to many GeV. The scientific program would include observations of low- and high-energy solar neutrinos, determination of neutrino mass ordering and measurement of the neutrino CP-violating phase $$\delta $$ δ , observations of diffuse supernova neutrinos and neutrinos from a supernova burst, sensitive searches for nucleon decay and, ultimately, a search for neutrinoless double beta decay, with sensitivity reaching the normal ordering regime of neutrino mass phase space. This paper describes Theia, a detector design that incorporates these new technologies in a practical and affordable way to accomplish the science goals described above.
