The Experimental Neutrino Physics group at IFIC is the proponent and leader of the COLINA experiment. We are responsibles of all aspects involved in its development.
Engineering, design and construction
The group is leading the mechanical and electronic engineering tasks. We are designing the different systems and subsystems required for detector operation: time projection chamber design, gas recirculation, cryogenics operation, light detection scheme, data acquisition, etc. Following that, we will take charge of the construction of the p-COLINA demonstrator and the COLINA detector.
Detector R&D
The main focus of current efforts is the demonstration of the conical time projection chamber concept. The full exploitation of this technique requires understanding many different aspects. While not limited to just them, a strong effort is put in the following topics:
- Characterization of electric field in a conical time projection chamber.
- Electroluminiscence in liquid noble gases and its mixtures
- Quenching factor measurements in the low-energy regime.
- Light collection efficiency assessment and optimization.
- Few-to-single electron backgrounds in noble gases characterization.
Software development
We are developing all the reconstruction software of the detectors taking into account the specificities of the geommetry. Two parallel approaches, one following more standarized and classical approach and another focused on the use of machine learning tools, are in the works. We are also leading the simulations related to the detector design and optimization (electric field, cryogenics, light collection efficiency).