Bonn 2020 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 38: Instrumentation VII

HK 38.6: Talk

Wednesday, April 1, 2020, 18:00–18:15, J-HS C

Veto Prototype Studies for DarkMESA — Mirco Christmann and •Matteo Lauß for the MAGIX collaboration — Institut für Kernphysik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

At the Institute for Nuclear Physics in Mainz the new electron accelerator MESA will go into operation within the next years. In the extracted beam operation (155 MeV, 150 µA) the P2 experiment will operate 10,000 hours. Therefore, the high-power beam dump of this experiment is ideally suited for a parasitic dark sector experiment.

Theoretically, dark photons γ’ are generated in the beam dump by a process analog to electromagnetic bremsstrahlung and decay invisibly to pairs of dark matter particles. Behind the beam dump and outside of the accelerator hall, electrons scattered off by dark matter particles can be detected in a calorimeter.

Suggested calorimeter materials were tested at MAMI with electrons below 14 MeV, where the materials PbF₂ and the Pb glass Schott SF5 performed best. This contribution presents a veto system for testing prototype detector arrays of these two materials.

The veto concept consists of two layers of plastic scintillators with Pb as shielding in between. The readout electronics with silicon photomultipliers were developed and various concepts with or without wavelength shifting fibers were studied during a beam test at MAMI. As well the sensitivity to neutrons was studied with an americium-beryllium source for the relevant materials.