Geng-Yuan Jeng

Results on the effects of ionizing radiation on the signal produced by plastic scintillating rods manufactured by Eljen Technology company are presented for various matrix materials, dopant concentrations, fluors (EJ-200 and EJ-260), anti-oxidant concentrations, scintillator thickness, doses, and dose rates. The light output before and after irradiation is measured using an alpha source and a photomultiplier tube, and the light transmission by a spectrophotometer. Assuming an exponential decrease in the light output with dose, the change in light output is quantified using the exponential dose constant D. The D values are similar for primary and secondary doping concentrations of 1 and 2 times, and for antioxidant concentrations of 0, 1, and 2 times, the default manufacturer’s concentration. The D value depends approximately linearly on the logarithm of the dose rate for dose rates between 2.2 Gy/h and 100 Gy/h for all materials. For EJ-200 polyvinyltoluene-based (PVT) scintillator, the dose constant is approximately linear in the logarithm of the dose rate up to 3900 Gy/h, while for polystyrene-based (PS) scintillator or for both materials with EJ-260 fluors, it remains constant or decreases (depending on doping concentration) above about 100 Gy/h. The results from rods of varying thickness and from the different fluors suggest damage to the initial light output is a larger effect than color center formation for scintillator thickness ≤1 cm. For the blue scintillator (EJ-200), the transmission measurements indicate damage to the fluors. We also find that while PVT is more resistant to radiation damage than PS at dose rates higher than about 100 Gy/h for EJ-200 fluors, they show similar damage at lower dose rates and for EJ-260 fluors.

Author(s): Jeng, Geng-yuan | Advisor(s): Hanson, Gail | Abstract: We perform a measurement of the top quark pair production cross section in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis is based on a 36 pb-1 dataset collected with the CMS experiment in 2010. We study the kinematic characteristics of events with exactly one isolated muon in association with additional hard jets and exhibiting substantial missing transverse energy to distinguish the tt signal from the electroweak and QCD multijet backgrounds. The signal is extracted by simultaneously fitting the tri-jet invariant mass distributions in events with exactly three jets and at least four jets. The measured cross section is 157 ± 12(stat.) +28-35(syst.) ± 6(lumi.) pb, which is consistent with the theoretical predictions.

Future experiments in high energy and nuclear physics may require large, inexpensive calorimeters that can continue to operate after receiving doses of 50 Mrad or more. The light output of liquid scintillators suffers little degradation under irradiation. However, many challenges exist before liquids can be used in sampling calorimetry, especially regarding developing a packaging that has sufficient efficiency and uniformity of light collection, as well as suitable mechanical properties. We present the results of a study of a scintillator tile based on the EJ-309 liquid scintillator using cosmic rays and test beam on the light collection efficiency and uniformity, and some preliminary results on radiation hardness.

Results on the effects of ionizing radiation on the signal produced by plastic scintillating rods manufactured by Eljen Technology company are presented for various matrix materials, dopant concentrations, fluors (EJ-200 and EJ-260), anti-oxidant concentrations, scintillator thickness, doses, and dose rates. The light output before and after irradiation is measured using an alpha source and a photomultiplier tube, and the light transmission by a spectrophotometer. Assuming an exponential decrease in the light output with dose, the change in light output is quantified using the exponential dose constant $D$. The $D$ values are similar for primary and secondary doping concentrations of 1 and 2 times, and for antioxidant concentrations of 0, 1, and 2 times, the default manufacturer's concentration. The $D$ value depends approximately linearly on the logarithm of the dose rate for dose rates between 2.2 Gy/hr and 70 Gy/hr for all materials. For EJ-200 polyvinyltoluene-based (PVT) scintillator, the dose constant is approximately linear in the logarithm of the dose rate up to 3400 Gy/hr, while for polystyrene-based (PS) scintillator or for both materials with EJ-260 fluors, it remains constant or decreases (depending on doping concentration) above about 100 Gy/hr. The results from rods of varying thickness and from the different fluors suggest damage to the initial light output is a larger effect than color center formation for scintillator thickness $\leq1$ cm. For the blue scintillator (EJ-200), the transmission measurements indicate damage to the fluors. We also find that while PVT is more resistant to radiation damage than PS at dose rates higher than about 100 Gy/hr for EJ-200 fluors, they show similar damage at lower dose rates and for EJ-260 fluors.