European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields (Apr 2023)

Liquid argon light collection and veto modeling in GERDA Phase II

  • M. Agostini,
  • A. Alexander,
  • G. R. Araujo,
  • A. M. Bakalyarov,
  • M. Balata,
  • I. Barabanov,
  • L. Baudis,
  • C. Bauer,
  • S. Belogurov,
  • A. Bettini,
  • L. Bezrukov,
  • V. Biancacci,
  • E. Bossio,
  • V. Bothe,
  • R. Brugnera,
  • A. Caldwell,
  • S. Calgaro,
  • C. Cattadori,
  • A. Chernogorov,
  • P. -J. Chiu,
  • T. Comellato,
  • V. D’Andrea,
  • E. V. Demidova,
  • A. Di Giacinto,
  • N. Di Marco,
  • E. Doroshkevich,
  • F. Fischer,
  • M. Fomina,
  • A. Gangapshev,
  • A. Garfagnini,
  • C. Gooch,
  • P. Grabmayr,
  • V. Gurentsov,
  • K. Gusev,
  • J. Hakenmüller,
  • S. Hemmer,
  • W. Hofmann,
  • M. Hult,
  • L. V. Inzhechik,
  • J. Janicskó Csáthy,
  • J. Jochum,
  • M. Junker,
  • V. Kazalov,
  • Y. Kermaïdic,
  • H. Khushbakht,
  • T. Kihm,
  • K. Kilgus,
  • I. V. Kirpichnikov,
  • A. Klimenko,
  • K. T. Knöpfle,
  • O. Kochetov,
  • V. N. Kornoukhov,
  • P. Krause,
  • V. V. Kuzminov,
  • M. Laubenstein,
  • B. Lehnert,
  • M. Lindner,
  • I. Lippi,
  • A. Lubashevskiy,
  • B. Lubsandorzhiev,
  • G. Lutter,
  • C. Macolino,
  • B. Majorovits,
  • W. Maneschg,
  • L. Manzanillas,
  • G. Marshall,
  • M. Miloradovic,
  • R. Mingazheva,
  • M. Misiaszek,
  • M. Morella,
  • Y. Müller,
  • I. Nemchenok,
  • M. Neuberger,
  • L. Pandola,
  • K. Pelczar,
  • L. Pertoldi,
  • P. Piseri,
  • A. Pullia,
  • L. Rauscher,
  • M. Redchuk,
  • S. Riboldi,
  • N. Rumyantseva,
  • C. Sada,
  • S. Sailer,
  • F. Salamida,
  • S. Schönert,
  • J. Schreiner,
  • M. Schütt,
  • A. -K. Schütz,
  • O. Schulz,
  • M. Schwarz,
  • B. Schwingenheuer,
  • O. Selivanenko,
  • E. Shevchik,
  • M. Shirchenko,
  • L. Shtembari,
  • H. Simgen,
  • A. Smolnikov,
  • D. Stukov,
  • S. Sullivan,
  • A. A. Vasenko,
  • A. Veresnikova,
  • C. Vignoli,
  • K. von Sturm,
  • A. Wegmann,
  • T. Wester,
  • C. Wiesinger,
  • M. Wojcik,
  • E. Yanovich,
  • B. Zatschler,
  • I. Zhitnikov,
  • S. V. Zhukov,
  • D. Zinatulina,
  • A. Zschocke,
  • A. J. Zsigmond,
  • K. Zuber,
  • G. Zuzel,
  • Gerda collaboration

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11354-9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 83, no. 4
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

Read online

Abstract The ability to detect liquid argon scintillation light from within a densely packed high-purity germanium detector array allowed the Gerda experiment to reach an exceptionally low background rate in the search for neutrinoless double beta decay of $${}^{76}$$ 76 Ge. Proper modeling of the light propagation throughout the experimental setup, from any origin in the liquid argon volume to its eventual detection by the novel light read-out system, provides insight into the rejection capability and is a necessary ingredient to obtain robust background predictions. In this paper, we present a model of the Gerda liquid argon veto, as obtained by Monte Carlo simulations and constrained by calibration data, and highlight its application for background decomposition.