A feasibility study of ortho-positronium decays measurement with the J-PET scanner based on plastic scintillators

Author(s)

D. Kaminska, A. Gajos, E. Czerwinski, D. Alfs, T. Bednarski, P. Bialas, C. Curceanu, K. Dulski, B. Glowacz, N. Gupta-Sharma, M. Gorgol, B. C. Hiesmayr, B. Jasinska, G. Korcyl, P. Kowalski, W. Krzemien, N. Krawczyk, E. Kubicz, M. Mohammed, Sz. Niedzwiecki, M. Pawlik-Niedzwiecka, L. Raczynski, Z. Rudy, M. Silarski, A. Wieczorek, W. Wislicki, B. Zgardzinska, M. Zielinski, P. Moskal

Abstract

We present a study of the application of the Jagiellonian positron emission tomograph (J-PET) for the registration of gamma quanta from decays of ortho-positronium (o-Ps). The J-PET is the first positron emission tomography scanner based on organic scintillators in contrast to all current PET scanners based on inorganic crystals. Monte Carlo simulations show that the J-PET as an axially symmetric and high acceptance scanner can be used as a multi-purpose detector well suited to pursue research including e.g. tests of discrete symmetries in decays of ortho-positronium in addition to the medical imaging. The gamma quanta originating from o-Ps decay interact in the plastic scintillators predominantly via the Compton effect, making the direct measurement of their energy impossible. Nevertheless, it is shown in this paper that the J-PET scanner will enable studies of the o-Ps→3γ decays with angular and energy resolution equal to σ(θ) ≈ 0. 4

^∘ and σ(E)≈4.1keV, respectively. An order of magnitude shorter decay time of signals from plastic scintillators with respect to the inorganic crystals results not only in better timing properties crucial for the reduction of physical and instrumental background, but also suppresses significantly the pile-ups, thus enabling compensation of the lower efficiency of the plastic scintillators by performing measurements with higher positron source activities.

Organisation(s)

Particle Physics, Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics and Quantum Information

External organisation(s)

Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Roma, Marie Curie-Sklodowska University, National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ)

Journal

European Physical Journal C

Volume

No. of pages

ISSN

1434-6044

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4294-3

Publication date

08-2016

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

103012 High energy physics, 206003 Medical physics

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Engineering (miscellaneous), Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

Portal url

https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/a-feasibility-study-of-orthopositronium-decays-measurement-with-the-jpet-scanner-based-on-plastic-scintillators(4ebf7c9d-9d3a-42ee-993a-84dee4099a70).html