Status and New Ideas Regarding Liquid Argon Detectors

Abstract

Large (up to ∼100 kt) liquid argon (LAr) time-projection chamber detectors are presently being considered for proton decay searches and neutrino astrophysics, as well as for far detectors for the next generation of long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments that aim to determine neutrino mass hierarchy and search for CP violation in the leptonic sector. These detectors rely on the capabilities to assemble large volumes of LAr in ultrahigh-purity conditions, possibly in an underground environment, and to achieve relatively long drifts for the ionization charge. Several proposals have been developed, each of which takes a different approach to the design of the cryogenic vessels and has different scales of modularity to reach the final mass dictated by physics. New detector concepts, with innovative designs of readout electronics and novel methods for the readout of the ionization charge and scintillation light, have been proposed.