Demonstrating topological identification capabilities of the NEXT experiment at low pressure
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The NEXT-100 detector is a high-pressure xenon time projection chamber utilising electroluminescence amplification for sub-1% FWHM energy resolution and topological discrimination, two key attributes required to achieve the NEXT programme's overarching goal of detecting neutrinoless double beta decay ($0 νββ$). The detector has completed its first physics run at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc (LSC), with xenon at a pressure of $\sim$4 bar. In this paper we report on the first validation of NEXT-100's topological performance and present the first topological analysis conducted at low pressure within the detector programme. A Monte Carlo study characterising the effects of pressure on track topology is presented, with qualitative agreement observed in data. We then demonstrate the topological discrimination capabilities for $0νββ$-like events from $^{208}$Tl decays using a cut-based method considered the 'baseline' in NEXT's topological programme, upon which all future analyses will improve. The analysis described applies a set of selection cuts before implementing a background discrimination algorithm that yields a reported signal efficiency for double-electron tracks and background acceptance for single-electron tracks of 75.6 $\pm$ 1.9 (stat.) $^{+3.4}_{-4.1}$ (syst.) % and 14.7 $\pm$ 0.4 (stat.) $^{+0.7}_{-0.8}$ (syst.) %. These results demonstrate the excellent topological discrimination capabilities of the NEXT-100 detector in line with NEXT-White, which achieved a signal efficiency and background acceptance of 71.6 $\pm$ 1.5 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.3 (syst.) % and 20.6 $\pm$ 0.4 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.3 (syst.) % respectively.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Waiton, J., Almazán, H., Palmeiro, B., Martínez-Lema, G., Guenette, R., Álvarez, V., Arazi, L., Arnquist, I. J., Auria-Luna, F., Ayet, S., Ayyad, Y., Azevedo, C. D. R., Ballester, F., Barcelon, J. E., del Barrio-Torregrosa, M., Benlloch-Rodríguez, J. M., Borges, F. I. G. M., Brodoline, A., Cabo, C., Castillo, A., Church, E., Cid, M., Cid, X., Conde, C. A. N., Cortes-Parra, C., Cossío, F. P., Coupe, R., Dey, E., Dietz, P., Echeverria, C., Elorza, M., Esteve, R., Felkai, R., Fernandes, L. M. P., Ferrario, P., Mancheño, P. Ferrero, Foss, F. W., Freixa, Z., García-Barrena, J., Gómez-Cadenas, J. J., Grocott, J. W. R., Hauptman, J., Henriques, C. A. O., Morata, J. A. Hernando, Herrero-Gómez, P., Herrero, V., Carrete, C. Hervés, Ifergan, Y., Isabel, A. F. B., Jones, B. J. P., Kellerer, F., Larizgoitia, L., Larumbe, A., Lebrun, P., Lopez, F., López-March, N., Madigan, R., Mano, R. D. P., Marauri, A., Marques, A. P., Martín-Albo, J., Martínez, A., Martínez-Vara, M., Miller, R. L., Mistry, K., Molina-Canteras, J., Monrabal, F., Monteiro, C. M. B., Mora, F. J., Navarro, K. E., Novella, P., Nygren, D. R., Oblak, E., Osborne, I., Palacio, J., Para, A., Pazos, A., Pelegrin, J., Maneiro, M. Pérez, Querol, M., Renner, J., Rivilla, I., Rogero, C., Rogers, L., Romeo, B., Romo-Luque, C., Ruiz-Chóliz, E., Saharia, P., Santos, F. P., Santos, J. M. F. dos, Seemann, M., Shomroni, I., Silva, A. L. M., Silva, P. A. O. C., Simón, A., Soleti, S. R., Sorel, M., Soto-Oton, J., Teixeira, J. M. R., Teruel-Pardo, S., Toledo, J. F., Tonnelé, C., Torelli, S., Torrent, J., Trettin, A., Valle, P. R. G., Vanga, M., Cabaleiro, P. Vázquez, Veloso, J. F. C. A., Villamil, J. D., Padruno, L. M. Villar, Yubero-Navarro, A.
Institutions: University of Manchester, Basque Centre for Climate Change, Donostia International Physics Center, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universitat de València, Instituto de Física Corpuscular, Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular, Universitat Politècnica de València, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, University of the Basque Country, ORFEO-CINQA Research Network, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, University of Aveiro, University of Coimbra, Material Physics Center, The University of Texas at Arlington, Weizmann Institute of Science, Ikerbasque, Iowa State University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Canfranc Underground Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Universitat de Girona
Language: English
Topic: Neutrino Physics Research
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1086978037, G1801558247, G1840991089, G1871417569, G1888088267, G1892091120, G1953887145, G2003222877, G2053063676, G2807485940, Hunting Invisibles: Dark sectors, Dark matter and Neutrinos, G3176647223, G3480961101, G3792226681, G3877807679, G4014979219, G4594096713, G4698663397, G4725480887, G5222023348, G5824835531, G6013409338, G6298273575, G6417970939, G6473424134, G7052852202, G7434936867, G997698400
OpenAlex ID: W7213202511