Fluorescence decay-time constants in organic liquid scintillators

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Physics
• Particle Physics
• Astrophysics

Background:

• Liquid scintillator detectors are vital for low-energy neutrino astronomy.
• Understanding scintillator properties is key to optimizing detector performance.
• The Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy (LENA) project requires precise detector physics data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To measure fluorescence decay-time constants for PXE and LAB scintillator mixtures.
• To assess the impact of these constants on the physics performance of the LENA detector.
• To evaluate the implications for searches for proton decay (p-->K(+)nu).

Main Methods:

• Experimental measurement of fluorescence decay-time constants.
• Analysis of scintillator mixtures based on phenyl-o-xylylethane (PXE) and linear alkylbenzene (LAB).
• Physics performance evaluation for large-volume liquid scintillator detectors.

Main Results:

• Determined fluorescence decay-time constants for specific scintillator mixtures.
• Quantified the relevance of these values for LENA detector physics.
• Assessed the impact on proton decay searches.

Conclusions:

• The measured decay-time constants provide essential data for the LENA detector.
• These findings contribute to the feasibility assessment of proton decay searches.
• Optimizing scintillator properties enhances the capabilities of neutrino astronomy experiments.