Predicting transport effects of scintillation light signals in large-scale liquid argon detectors

Liquid argon is being employed as a detector medium in neutrino physics and Dark Matter searches. A recent push to expand the applications of scintillation light in Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber neutrino detectors has necessitated the development of advanced methods of simulating this light. The presently available methods tend to be prohibitively slow or imprecise due to the combination of detector size and the amount of energy deposited by neutrino beam interactions. In this work we present a semi-analytical model to predict the quantity of argon scintillation light observed by a light detector with a precision better than 10%, based only on the relative positions between the scintillation and light detector. We also provide a method to predict the distribution of arrival times of these photons accounting for propagation effects. Additionally, we present an equivalent model to predict the number of photons and their arrival times in the case of a wavelength-shifting, highly-reflective layer being present on the detector cathode. Our proposed method can be used to simulate light propagation in large-scale liquid argon detectors such as DUNE or SBND, and could also be applied to other detector mediums such as liquid xenon or xenon-doped liquid argon.

Automated summary

In this study, a semi-analytical model was proposed to predict the quantity of argon scintillation light with a precision better than 10%, based on relative positions between scintillation and light detectors. A method to predict the distribution of arrival times of photons considering propagation effects was also provided. Additionally, an equivalent model was introduced to predict the number of photons and their arrival times in the presence of a wavelength-shifting, highly-reflective layer on the detector cathode, which can be applied to various detector mediums.