Low-energy calibration, reconstruction software and light-collection efficiency parametrization of the NEXT-White detector

Abstract

This thesis focuses on three contributions to the NEXT experiment: the simulation of the optical response of the NEXT-White and NEXT-100 detectors, the implementation of the reconstruction software of the experiment and the low-energy calibration of the NEXT-White detector. The optical response is simulated and mapped across the active volume and later parametrized to generate a light collection efficiency model of the detector. This technique allows the simulation of high-statistics Monte Carlo datasets. This thesis also delves into the software structures and the algorithms used in the reconstruction chain, base of any physics analysis performed with the detector. Finally, a detailed analysis of the low-energy calibration of the NEXT-White detector is presented. This tool is essential to correct the dependence of the signal with the position of the event. The method proves to be robust and a near-intrinsic energy resolution is achieved for 41.5 keV energy depositions.