COUPP: Chicagoland Observatory for Underground Particle Physics

(FNAL Test Beam Program T-945)

J. Collar, K. Crum, D. Nakazawa, B. Odom, J. Rasmussen, M. SzydagisKavli Institute for Cosmological Physics

The University of Chicago

P. Cooper, M. Crisler, H. Nguyen, E. Ramberg,, A. Sonnenschein, R. TesarekFermi National Accelerator Laboratory

Development of a bubble chamber technique for dark matter detection.

* Engineering and technical support from PPD Technical Centers and Mechanical Department: K. Krempetz, C.M. Lei, R. Schmitt, T. Nebel, J. Zimmerman, C. Lindenmeyer, J. Korienek, D. Butler, J. Krider, D. Erikson, B. Pritchard

Basic idea:

• Low energy nuclear recoils from WIMP nucleus scattering can produce a bubble in a superheated liquid.

• Many liquids could be used, so wide choice of potential target nuclei to check signal dependence on spin and A2.

• Under correctly chosen pressure and temperature conditions, background gammas and betas can not produce bubbles.

dE/dX Discrimination in a Small Propane Chamber

plateau

protons

electrons

Waters, Petroff, and Koski, IEEE Trans. Nuc. Sci. 16(1) 398-401 (1969)

Plot of event rate vs. “superheat pressure” (= vapor pressure - operating pressure)

(psi)

Bubble Nucleation in Cracks

Liquid 0.1 m

Solid

nucleation sites• Trapped gas volumes in surface imperfections are now known to be the primary source of nucleation.

• Most (all?) construction materials have rough surfaces at scales below 1 m, but some materials much better than others.

• Historically, problem was overcome for high energy physics experiments by rapid cycling of chamber in sync with a pulsed beam. Bubbling at walls was tolerated because of finite speed of bubble growth.

• A few small “clean chambers” (~10 ml) were built in the 50’s and 60’s, with sensitive times ~1 minute.

Ways to preserve superheated state:

• Elimination of porous surfaces in contact with superheated liquid.

• Precision cleaning to eliminate particulates.

• Vacuum degassing.

•… a few other tricks borrowed from chemical engineers

Design Concept for Large Chambers• Central design issue is how to avoid metal contact with superheated liquid.

• Fabrication of large quartz or glass pressure vessels is not practical, but industrial capability exists for thin-walled vessels up to ~ 1 m3 in volume.

Thin- walled quartz bell jar

Steel pressure vessel

Pressure balancing bellows

SUPERHEATEDLIQUID

VIEWPORT

VIEWPORT VIEWPORT

HEAT EXCHANGE FLUID

PISTON

Buffer fluid

Target Liquids Tested in Small Chamber

Mass Fractions Density

Boiling

Point

@ 1 atm

Comments

CF3Br

8% C (Z=6)

38% F (Z=9)

54% Br (Z=35)

1.5 g/cc -58 CGood for spin-dependent

and spin- independent

couplings.

CF3I

6% C

29% F

65% I (Z=53)

2.1 g/cc -23 CSpin-dependent and

spin-independent

Non- ozone depleting

Xe 100% Xe (Z=54) 3.0 g/cc -108 CPossible use in hybrid

scintillating bubble chamber.

test site~300 m.w.e.

at Fermilab

Installation of 1 Liter Chamber At Fermilab NuMi Tunnel

• Prototypes design features required for chambers up to 1000 liters

160 msec of Video Buffer (20 msec/frame)

Muon Track @ 160 psi Vapor Pressure

115 days in run45k expansions82 seconds mean expansion time

42.8 live days = 37% of real time

15k bubbles counted

145 GB in Enstore

Data From December 1st ‘05 to March 27 ‘06

Video trigger turned on

Adjustment of trigger thresholds and compression

schedule

Spatial Distribution of Single Bubbles, First 42 Days

Radial Distribution

Neutron Shielding and Muon Veto• Detector is surrounded by 30 cm of polyethylene neutron moderator.

Very effective for low energy neutrons coming from (,n) radioactivity in rock.Simulations show reduction in rate to < 1/month.

• Active muon veto: 150 plastic scintillator counters from KTEV.• Goal: < 0.1 -induced neutrons/ day in 1 liter chamber, requires >98% efficiency.

To be installed underground summer ‘06.

What Will Our Dominant Background Be?

• Alpha decay produces monoenergetic, low energy nuclear recoils.

For example, consider 210Po->206Pb:

206PbE = 5.407 MeV ER= 101 keV

• The recoiling nucleus will nucleate a bubble in any chamber that is sensitive to the lower energy (~10 keV) recoils expected from WIMP scattering.

• The 238U and 232Th decay series include many alpha emitters, including radon (222Rn) and its daughters.

• Radon is highly soluble in bubble chamber liquids.

• Solar neutrino experiments (Borexino, Kamland, SNO) have demonstrated feasibility of reduction to ~1 event per day in scintillator and water-- about 2 orders of magnitude lower rates than seen in current-generation dark matter experiments.

Potential Sensitivity Of 1-Liter Chamber at Fermilab Site

Spin-independent Spin-dependent

Goal for this phase: reduce background to <1 event per liter per day

To Prove Viability of Bubble Chamber Technique, We have demonstrated:

We have a bubble chamber which can remain expanded and sensitive for a significant fraction of the time.

Efficient detection of single bubble events from low energy nuclear recoils.

Work at U. Chicago using radioactive sources.

• Low backgrounds from radioactivity & cosmic rays.

Installing new radio-pure inner vessel assembly

Muon veto system (KTEV plastic scintillator)

Goal: < 1 background bubble per day

1) Which Henderson DUSEL campus will be most suitable for your experiment?We now have prototyping space at 100 m.w.e., appropriate for 2 kg

chamber.We are looking for a deeper site in 2007 (Soudan?). ~100 kgNeed to study potential sensitivity at central campus for 2010 (tons)Deep campus preferred, but not available until 2014.

2) What is the required space?More than most other dark matter experiments, because cost per unit

target mass likely 1-2 orders of magnitude lower.

E.g. 100 x 1 ton modules = ~ 1000 m2 of floor space(similar to 1 ton TPC in infrastructure matrix)

3) What are the special needs: clean room, cryogenic facility, etc.? Clean rooms? Water tank? Emergency vent path for gas?

Underground Lab Requirements- A Guess