118444311
Analogue transformation acoustics and the compression of spacetime
A recently developed technique known as analogue transformation acoustics has allowed the extension of the transformational paradigm to general spacetime transformations under which the acoustic equations are not form invariant. In this paper, we review the fundamentals of analogue transformation acoustics and show how this technique can be applied to build a device that increases the density of events within a given spacetime region by simultaneously compressing space and time.
53706932
Characterization of a medium size Xe/TMA TPC instrumented with microbulk Micromegas, using low-energy gamma-rays
NEXT-MM is a general-purpose high pressure (10 bar, ~ 25 l active volume) Xenon-based TPC, read out in charge mode with an 0.8 cm × 0.8 cm-segmented 700 cm2 plane (1152 ch) of the latest microbulk-Micromegas technology. It has been recently commissioned at University of Zaragoza as part of the R&D of the NEXT 0νββ experiment, although the experiment's first stage is currently being built based on a SiPM/PMT-readout concept relying on electroluminescence. Around 2 million events were collected during the last months, stemming from the low energy γ-rays emitted by a 241Am source when interacting with the Xenon gas (Eγ = 26, 30, 59.5 keV). The localized nature of such events around atmospheric pressure, the long drift times, as well as the possibility to determine their production time from the associated α particle in coincidence, allow the extraction of primordial properties of the TPC filling gas, namely the drift velocity, diffusion and attachment coefficients. In this work we focus on the little explored combination of Xe and trimethylamine (TMA) for which, in particular, such properties are largely unknown. This gas mixture offers potential advantages over pure Xenon when aimed at Rare Event Searches, mainly due to its Penning characteristics, wave-length shifting properties and reduced diffusion, and it is being actively investigated by our collaboration. The chamber is currently operated at 2.7 bar, as an intermediate step towards the envisaged 10 bar. We report here its performance as well as a first implementation of the calibration procedures that have allowed the extension of the previously reported energy resolution to the whole readout plane (10.6% FWHM@30 keV).
53493628
Description and commissioning of NEXT-MM prototype: first results from operation in a Xenon-Trimethylamine gas mixture
A technical description of NEXT-MM and its commissioning and first performance is reported. Having an active volume of ~ 35 cm drift ? 28 cm diameter, it constitutes the largest Micromegas-read TPC operated in Xenon ever constructed, made by a sectorial arrangement of the 4 largest single wafers manufactured with the Microbulk technique to date. It is equipped with a suitably pixelized readout and with a sufficiently large sensitive volume ( ~ 23 l) so as to contain long ( ~ 20 cm) electron tracks. First results obtained at 1 bar for Xenon and Trymethylamine (Xe-(2%)TMA) mixture are presented. The TPC can accurately reconstruct extended background tracks. An encouraging full-width half-maximum of 11.6 % was obtained for ~ 29 keV gammas without resorting to any data post-processing.
119238913
Space time transformation acoustics
Abstract A recently proposed analogue transformation method has allowed the extension of transformation acoustics to general space–time transformations. We analyze here in detail the differences between this new analogue transformation acoustics (ATA) method and the standard one (STA). We show explicitly that STA is not suitable for transformations that mix space and time. ATA takes as starting point the acoustic equation for the velocity potential, instead of that for the pressure as in STA. This velocity-potential equation by itself already allows for some transformations mixing space and time, but not all of them. We explicitly obtain the entire set of transformations that leave its form invariant. It is for the rest of transformations that ATA shows its true potential, allowing for building a transformation acoustics method that enables the full range of space–time transformations. We provide an example of an important transformation which cannot be achieved with STA. Using this transformation, we design and simulate an acoustic frequency converter via the ATA approach. Furthermore, in those cases in which one can apply both the STA and ATA approaches, we study the different transformational properties of the corresponding physical quantities.
118423575
Characterisation of NEXT-DEMO using xenon K$_{\alpha}$ X-rays
The NEXT experiment aims to observe the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe in a high pressure gas TPC using electroluminescence (EL) to amplify the signal from ionization. Understanding the response of the detector is imperative in achieving a consistent and well understood energy measurement. The abundance of xenon k-shell x-ray emission during data taking has been identified as a multitool for the characterisation of the fundamental parameters of the gas as well as the equalisation of the response of the detector. The NEXT-DEMO prototype is a ~1.5 kg volume TPC filled with natural xenon. It employs an array of 19 PMTs as an energy plane and of 256 SiPMs as a tracking plane with the TPC light tube and SiPM surfaces being coated with tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB) which acts as a wavelength shifter for the VUV scintillation light produced by xenon. This paper presents the measurement of the properties of the drift of electrons in the TPC, the effects of the EL production region, and the extraction of position dependent correction constants using K$_{\alpha}$ X-ray deposits. These constants were used to equalise the response of the detector to deposits left by gammas from $^{22}$Na.
125904516
Investigating the $D^{*}\rho$ system using QCD sum rules