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ORCID
N/A
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Physics
Degree Type
Master of Science (M.S.)
Year Degree Awarded
2015
Month Degree Awarded
September
Abstract
Liquid argon is an attractive target for dark matter searches due to its low cost and exemplary event discrimination. However, atmospherically derived argon contains the beta-emitter 39Ar which confounds the growth of dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC) style detectors to the ton-scale. The DarkSide Collaboration seeks to bypass this limitation by extracting argon from deep underground, from a location known to contain significantly less 39Ar than atmospherically derived argon. This thesis will summarize the e orts taken to produce the first batch of underground argon, focusing on the first operation of the underground argon in a dual-phase TPC to validate the purity of the product, performed at Fermilab using the SCENE cryostat.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/7505314
First Advisor
Andrea Pocar
Second Advisor
David Kawall
Recommended Citation
Alexander, Thomas R., "Validation of Argon from Underground Sources for Use in the DarkSide-50 Detector" (2015). Masters Theses. 312.
https://doi.org/10.7275/7505314
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/312