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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Detect. Sci. Technol.
Sec. Detector Physics
Volume 2 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fdest.2024.1480975
This article is part of the Research Topic Fundamentals of luminescence and electroluminescence in particle detection technologies relying on noble-gas media View all articles

A Review of NEST Models for Liquid Xenon & Exhaustive Comparison to Other Approaches

Provisionally accepted
Matthew Szydagis Matthew Szydagis 1*Jon Balajthy Jon Balajthy 2,3*Grant A Block Grant A Block 1,4,5*Jason P Brodsky Jason P Brodsky 6*Ethan Brown Ethan Brown 5*Jacob E Cutter Jacob E Cutter 3,7*Sophia J Farrell Sophia J Farrell 8*Junying Huang Junying Huang 3,9*Alvine C Kamaha Alvine C Kamaha 1,10*Ekaterina S Kozlova Ekaterina S Kozlova 11,12*Chloe S Liebenthal Chloe S Liebenthal 8*Daniel N McKinsey Daniel N McKinsey 13,14*Kirsten McMichael Kirsten McMichael 5*Ryan McMonigle Ryan McMonigle 1*Michael Mooney Michael Mooney 15*Justin Mueller Justin Mueller 15*Kaixuan Ni Kaixuan Ni 9*Gregory R C Rischbieter Gregory R C Rischbieter 1,16,17*Kian Trengove Kian Trengove 1,10*Mani Tripathi Mani Tripathi 3*Christopher D Tunnell Christopher D Tunnell 8Vetri Velan Vetri Velan 13,14Shawn Westerdale Shawn Westerdale 18*Madison D Wyman Madison D Wyman 1*Zehong Zhao Zehong Zhao 9*Min Zhong Min Zhong 9
  • 1 University at Albany, Albany, United States
  • 2 Sandia National Laboratories (DOE), Livermore, California, United States
  • 3 University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States
  • 4 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
  • 5 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, United States
  • 6 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE), Livermore, California, United States
  • 7 Deepgram, Mountain View, CA, United States
  • 8 Rice University, Houston, Texas, United States
  • 9 University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States
  • 10 University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States
  • 11 National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia
  • 12 Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, Moscow Oblast, Russia
  • 13 University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, United States
  • 14 Berkeley Lab (DOE), Berkeley, California, United States
  • 15 Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
  • 16 University of Zurich, Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
  • 17 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
  • 18 University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This paper will discuss the microphysical simulation of interactions in liquid xenon, the active detector medium in many leading rare-event searches for new physics, and describe experimental observables useful to understanding detector performance. The scintillation and ionization yield distributions for signal and background will be presented using the Noble Element Simulation Technique (NEST), which is a toolkit based on experimental data and simple, empirical formulae, which mimic previous microphysics modeling, but are guided by data. The NEST models for light and charge production as a function of the particle type, energy, and electric field will be reviewed, as well as models for energy resolution and final pulse areas. NEST will be compared to other models or sets of models, and vetted against real data, with several specific examples pulled from XENON, ZEPLIN, LUX, LZ, PandaX, and table-top experiments used for calibrations.

    Keywords: WIMP dark matter direct detection, Liquid xenon, simulations/models, WIMP dark matter direct search, Liquid xenon (LXe), Simulations models

    Received: 14 Aug 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Szydagis, Balajthy, Block, Brodsky, Brown, Cutter, Farrell, Huang, Kamaha, Kozlova, Liebenthal, McKinsey, McMichael, McMonigle, Mooney, Mueller, Ni, Rischbieter, Trengove, Tripathi, Tunnell, Velan, Westerdale, Wyman, Zhao and Zhong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Matthew Szydagis, University at Albany, Albany, United States
    Jon Balajthy, Sandia National Laboratories (DOE), Livermore, CA 94551-0969, California, United States
    Grant A Block, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 87131, New Mexico, United States
    Jason P Brodsky, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE), Livermore, 94550, California, United States
    Ethan Brown, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, 12180-3590, New York, United States
    Jacob E Cutter, Deepgram, Mountain View, CA, United States
    Sophia J Farrell, Rice University, Houston, 77005, Texas, United States
    Junying Huang, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92093, California, United States
    Alvine C Kamaha, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 90095, California, United States
    Ekaterina S Kozlova, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Moscow, 115409, Moscow Oblast, Russia
    Chloe S Liebenthal, Rice University, Houston, 77005, Texas, United States
    Daniel N McKinsey, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720, California, United States
    Kirsten McMichael, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, 12180-3590, New York, United States
    Ryan McMonigle, University at Albany, Albany, United States
    Michael Mooney, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, 80523, Colorado, United States
    Justin Mueller, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, 80523, Colorado, United States
    Kaixuan Ni, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92093, California, United States
    Gregory R C Rischbieter, University of Zurich, Zürich, CH-8006, Zürich, Switzerland
    Kian Trengove, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, 90095, California, United States
    Mani Tripathi, University of California, Davis, Davis, 95616, California, United States
    Shawn Westerdale, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, 92521, California, United States
    Madison D Wyman, University at Albany, Albany, United States
    Zehong Zhao, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92093, California, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.