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

Precision measurement of the specific activity of $$^{39}$$ 39 Ar in atmospheric argon with the DEAP-3600 detector

  • P. Adhikari,
  • R. Ajaj,
  • M. Alpízar-Venegas,
  • P.-A. Amaudruz,
  • J. Anstey,
  • G. R. Araujo,
  • D. J. Auty,
  • M. Baldwin,
  • M. Batygov,
  • B. Beltran,
  • H. Benmansour,
  • C. E. Bina,
  • J. Bonatt,
  • W. Bonivento,
  • M. G. Boulay,
  • B. Broerman,
  • J. F. Bueno,
  • P. M. Burghardt,
  • A. Butcher,
  • M. Cadeddu,
  • B. Cai,
  • M. Cárdenas-Montes,
  • S. Cavuoti,
  • M. Chen,
  • Y. Chen,
  • S. Choudhary,
  • B. T. Cleveland,
  • J. M. Corning,
  • R. Crampton,
  • D. Cranshaw,
  • S. Daugherty,
  • P. DelGobbo,
  • K. Dering,
  • P. Di Stefano,
  • J. DiGioseffo,
  • G. Dolganov,
  • L. Doria,
  • F. A. Duncan,
  • M. Dunford,
  • E. Ellingwood,
  • A. Erlandson,
  • S. S. Farahani,
  • N. Fatemighomi,
  • G. Fiorillo,
  • S. Florian,
  • A. Flower,
  • R. J. Ford,
  • R. Gagnon,
  • D. Gallacher,
  • P. García Abia,
  • S. Garg,
  • P. Giampa,
  • A. Giménez-Alcázar,
  • D. Goeldi,
  • V. V. Golovko,
  • P. Gorel,
  • K. Graham,
  • D. R. Grant,
  • A. Grobov,
  • A. L. Hallin,
  • M. Hamstra,
  • P. J. Harvey,
  • S. Haskins,
  • C. Hearns,
  • J. Hu,
  • J. Hucker,
  • T. Hugues,
  • A. Ilyasov,
  • B. Jigmeddorj,
  • C. J. Jillings,
  • A. Joy,
  • O. Kamaev,
  • G. Kaur,
  • A. Kemp,
  • M. Kuźniak,
  • F. La Zia,
  • M. Lai,
  • S. Langrock,
  • B. Lehnert,
  • A. Leonhardt,
  • J. LePage-Bourbonnais,
  • N. Levashko,
  • J. Lidgard,
  • T. Lindner,
  • M. Lissia,
  • J. Lock,
  • L. Luzzi,
  • I. Machulin,
  • P. Majewski,
  • A. Maru,
  • J. Mason,
  • A. B. McDonald,
  • T. McElroy,
  • T. McGinn,
  • J. B. McLaughlin,
  • R. Mehdiyev,
  • C. Mielnichuk,
  • L. Mirasola,
  • J. Monroe,
  • P. Nadeau,
  • C. Nantais,
  • C. Ng,
  • A. J. Noble,
  • E. O’Dwyer,
  • G. Oliviéro,
  • C. Ouellet,
  • S. Pal,
  • D. Papi,
  • P. Pasuthip,
  • S. J. M. Peeters,
  • M. Perry,
  • V. Pesudo,
  • E. Picciau,
  • M.-C. Piro,
  • T. R. Pollmann,
  • F. Rad,
  • E. T. Rand,
  • C. Rethmeier,
  • F. Retière,
  • I. Rodríguez García,
  • L. Roszkowski,
  • J. B. Ruhland,
  • R. Santorelli,
  • F. G. Schuckman II,
  • N. Seeburn,
  • S. Seth,
  • V. Shalamova,
  • K. Singhrao,
  • P. Skensved,
  • N. J. T. Smith,
  • B. Smith,
  • K. Sobotkiewich,
  • T. Sonley,
  • J. Sosiak,
  • J. Soukup,
  • R. Stainforth,
  • C. Stone,
  • V. Strickland,
  • M. Stringer,
  • B. Sur,
  • J. Tang,
  • E. Vázquez-Jáuregui,
  • L. Veloce,
  • S. Viel,
  • B. Vyas,
  • M. Walczak,
  • J. Walding,
  • M. Ward,
  • S. Westerdale,
  • J. Willis,
  • A. Zuñiga-Reyes,
  • DEAP Collaboration

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11678-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 83, no. 7
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Abstract The specific activity of the $$\beta $$ β decay of $$^{39}$$ 39 Ar in atmospheric argon is measured using the DEAP-3600 detector. DEAP-3600, located 2 km underground at SNOLAB, uses a total of (3269 ± 24) kg of liquid argon distilled from the atmosphere to search for dark matter. This detector is well-suited to measure the decay of $$^{39}$$ 39 Ar owing to its very low background levels. This is achieved in two ways: it uses low background construction materials; and it uses pulse-shape discrimination to differentiate between nuclear recoils and electron recoils. With 167 live-days of data, the measured specific activity at the time of atmospheric extraction is (0.964 ± 0.001 $$_\textrm{stat}$$ stat ± 0.024 $$_\textrm{sys}$$ sys ) Bq/kg $$_\textrm{atmAr}$$ atmAr , which is consistent with results from other experiments. A cross-check analysis using different event selection criteria and a different statistical method confirms the result.