Time and band-resolved scintillation in time projection chambers based on gaseous xenon

We present a systematic study of the time and band-resolved scintillation in xenon-based time projection chambers (TPCs), performed simultaneously for the primary (S1) and secondary (S2) components in a small, purity-controlled, setup. We explore a range of conditions of general academic interest, focusing on those of relevance to contemporary TPCs: pressure range 1–10 bar, pressure-reduced electric fields of 0–100 V/cm/bar in the drift region (S1) and up to the proportional scintillation regime in the multiplication region (S2), and wavelength bands 145–250/250–400/400–600 nm, for both α\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\alpha $$\end{document} and β\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\beta $$\end{document} particles. Attention is paid to the possibility of non-conventional scintillation mechanisms such as the 3rd continuum emission, recombination light from β\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\beta $$\end{document}-electrons at high pressure (for S1), emission from high-lying excited states and neutral bremsstrahlung (for S2). Time constants and, specially, scintillation yields have been obtained as a function of electric field and pressure, the latter aided by Geant4 simulations.