Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND): Design and Initial Performance
Abstract
The Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND) is a 112 tonne active mass liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) situated in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab, forming part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program. SBND began operation in 2024 and has since accumulated the world's largest sample of neutrino-argon interactions. This paper describes the as-built detector and presents performance results from the first year of beam operation. All detector systems performed at or above design requirements. The liquid argon purity achieved an electron lifetime exceeding 30ms, ten times the design requirement, for more than 95% of Run 1. The TPC wire plane readout achieved noise levels at the theoretical minimum for the given wire geometry (an average of 388e- for the 4m long collection plane wires) with 99.3% of readout channels live. Together, the liquid argon purity and TPC performance are enabling extremely clean event reconstruction in the SBND TPC. The photon detection system, consisting of passive reflectors and multiple active components (PMTs and X-ARAPUCAs), has achieved a light yield exceeding 10 photoelectrons per MeV throughout the detector volume and a timing resolution of a few nanoseconds, sufficient to resolve the 19ns bunch structure of the Booster Neutrino Beam. A nearly 4π cosmic ray tagger system surrounds the TPC to mitigate cosmic backgrounds in neutrino and BSM physics analyses. The data acquisition system has demonstrated stable performance up to an event rate of 8Hz, and a data collection efficiency of 98.6% was achieved throughout SBND's first neutrino run in 2025. These results demonstrate that SBND represents the state of the art in multi-tonne-scale LArTPC detector performance.
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BibTeX
@misc{collaboration2026shortbaseline,
title = {{Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND): Design and Initial Performance}},
author = {SBND Collaboration and P. Abratenko and R. Acciarri and C. Adams and T. Alafaro and L. Aliaga-Soplin and R. Alvarez-Garrote and J. Ameel and D. Andrade Aldana and C. Andreopoulos and A. Antonakis and L. Arellano and J. Asaadi and W. Badgett and L. Bagby and S. Balasubramanian and D. Barker and A. Barnard and C. Barnes and N. Barros and A. Basharina-Freshville and V. Basque and J. R. Bateman and M. C. Bazetto and A. Beever and B. Behera and E. Belchior and O. Beltramello and M. Betancourt and A. Bhat and K. Biery and M. Bishai and A. Bitadze and A. Blake and B. Bogart and J. Boissevain and C. Bonifazi and J. Book Motzkin and G. Botogoske and D. Brailsford and A. Brandt and J. Bremer and S. Brickner and T. Brooks and M. B. Brunetti and G. Buccino and A. Bullock and G. A. N. Buzzard and L. Camilleri and D. Caratelli and D. Carber and B. Carlson and M. F. Carneiro and M. Cascella and R. Castillo Fernandez and F. Cavanna and M. Chalifour and P. Chambouvet and A. Chan and A. Chappell},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.11782},
eprint = {2610.11782},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.11782},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND): Design and Initial Performance
AU - SBND Collaboration
AU - P. Abratenko
AU - R. Acciarri
AU - C. Adams
AU - T. Alafaro
AU - L. Aliaga-Soplin
AU - R. Alvarez-Garrote
AU - J. Ameel
AU - D. Andrade Aldana
AU - C. Andreopoulos
AU - A. Antonakis
AU - L. Arellano
AU - J. Asaadi
AU - W. Badgett
AU - L. Bagby
AU - S. Balasubramanian
AU - D. Barker
AU - A. Barnard
AU - C. Barnes
AU - N. Barros
AU - A. Basharina-Freshville
AU - V. Basque
AU - J. R. Bateman
AU - M. C. Bazetto
AU - A. Beever
AU - B. Behera
AU - E. Belchior
AU - O. Beltramello
AU - M. Betancourt
AU - A. Bhat
AU - K. Biery
AU - M. Bishai
AU - A. Bitadze
AU - A. Blake
AU - B. Bogart
AU - J. Boissevain
AU - C. Bonifazi
AU - J. Book Motzkin
AU - G. Botogoske
AU - D. Brailsford
AU - A. Brandt
AU - J. Bremer
AU - S. Brickner
AU - T. Brooks
AU - M. B. Brunetti
AU - G. Buccino
AU - A. Bullock
AU - G. A. N. Buzzard
AU - L. Camilleri
AU - D. Caratelli
AU - D. Carber
AU - B. Carlson
AU - M. F. Carneiro
AU - M. Cascella
AU - R. Castillo Fernandez
AU - F. Cavanna
AU - M. Chalifour
AU - P. Chambouvet
AU - A. Chan
AU - A. Chappell
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.11782
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.11782
AB - The Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND) is a 112 tonne active mass liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) situated in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab, forming part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program. SBND began operation in 2024 and has since accumulated the world's largest sample of neutrino-argon interactions. This paper describes the as-built detector and presents performance results from the first year of beam operation. All detector systems performed at or above design requirements. The liquid argon purity achieved an electron lifetime exceeding 30ms, ten times the design requirement, for more than 95% of Run 1. The TPC wire plane readout achieved noise levels at the theoretical minimum for the given wire geometry (an average of 388e^- for the 4m long collection plane wires) with 99.3% of readout channels live. Together, the liquid argon purity and TPC performance are enabling extremely clean event reconstruction in the SBND TPC. The photon detection system, consisting of passive reflectors and multiple active components (PMTs and X-ARAPUCAs), has achieved a light yield exceeding 10 photoelectrons per MeV throughout the detector volume and a timing resolution of a few nanoseconds, sufficient to resolve the 19ns bunch structure of the Booster Neutrino Beam. A nearly 4π cosmic ray tagger system surrounds the TPC to mitigate cosmic backgrounds in neutrino and BSM physics analyses. The data acquisition system has demonstrated stable performance up to an event rate of 8Hz, and a data collection efficiency of 98.6% was achieved throughout SBND's first neutrino run in 2025. These results demonstrate that SBND represents the state of the art in multi-tonne-scale LArTPC detector performance.
ER -