Single Photo-Electron Analysis Using the Ion Transport Model at MicroBooNE

Many large surface Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) have observed an unexpectedly high rate of single photo-electrons (SPEs).To explain this puzzling phenomenon we have developed the Ion Transport Model in which photons are created by the interactions of ions produced within the LArTPC from cosmic rays. These cosmic rays ionize argon atoms into ion and electron pairs, which can undergo the processes of recombination and attachment to negative impurity ions. We also introduce two new processes, volume recombination and mutual neutralization, to describe the creation of photons from the interactions of these ions and electrons. In this talk we will describe this model in detail and show the comparison between the model prediction and data collected from the MicroBooNE experiment. We will show how MicroBooNE's unique data set collected with a reversed electric field in the TPC can help test the Ion Transport Model.