Timeline for Why, precisely, is argon used in neutrino experiments?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
9 events
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| Mar 27, 2019 at 7:57 | comment | added | PM 2Ring | This article describes the liquid argon based detector. It's basically a bubble chamber with electric fields. I'm not clear how neutrinos trigger ionization in this detector. | |
| Mar 27, 2019 at 7:48 | comment | added | PM 2Ring | FWIW, the Ar-37 produced in the reaction used by the Homestake experiment has a half life of 5 weeks, decaying back to Cl-37 by electron capture. That makes the argon easy to detect... if you catch it before it decays. ;) | |
| Mar 27, 2019 at 7:43 | comment | added | PM 2Ring | @probably No, I don't know of other neutrino detectors using that reaction. DUNE uses liquid + gaseous argon in their detector. I've only just skimmed that page, so I don't yet know how it works. | |
| Mar 27, 2019 at 7:42 | comment | added | niels nielsen | I went with argon and did not specifically consider liquid argon. eager to hear inputs from experts on this. -NN | |
| Mar 27, 2019 at 7:29 | comment | added | probably_someone | @PM2Ring Ok, but do you have another example of this design being used in any modern context, i.e. not in a detector that's at this point 60 years old (I couldn't find another one on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_neutrino_experiments)? Given that the OP is asking about the use of liquid argon in neutrino experiments (plural), I'm fairly certain this isn't particularly relevant. | |
| Mar 27, 2019 at 7:27 | comment | added | niels nielsen | one of the original neutrino detectors used a gigantic vat of dry cleaning fluid (rich in chlorine) deep underground, which would be swept at regular intervals to look for argon. | |
| Mar 27, 2019 at 7:25 | comment | added | PM 2Ring | @probably See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestake_experiment "Upon interaction with an electron neutrino, a chlorine-37 atom transforms into a radioactive isotope of argon-37". | |
| Mar 27, 2019 at 7:08 | comment | added | probably_someone | Is this design actually used in current neutrino detectors? I don't seem to recall any at the moment that use extremely large volumes of chlorine - in fact, most of them that I can think of (IceCube notwithstanding) use extremely large volumes of argon (or xenon) surrounded by scintillators and photomultipliers, which is exactly backwards from what you have written here. | |
| Mar 27, 2019 at 7:00 | history | answered | niels nielsen | CC BY-SA 4.0 |