The GERDA collaboration is performing a search for neutrinoless double beta decay of ^{76}Ge with the eponymous detector. The experiment has been installed and commissioned at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and has started operation in November 2011. The design, construction and first operational results are described, along with detailed information from the R&D phase.
The AMoRE (Advanced Mo-based Rare process Experiment) project is a series of experiments that use advanced cryogenic techniques to search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of mohundred. The work is being carried out by an international collaboration of researchers from eight countries. These searches involve high precision measurements of radiation-induced temperature changes and scintillation light produced in ultra-pure Mo[100]-enriched and Ca[48]-depleted calcium molybdate ($mathrm{^{48depl}Ca^{100}MoO_4}$) crystals that are located in a deep underground laboratory in Korea. The mohundred nuclide was chosen for this zeronubb decay search because of its high $Q$-value and favorable nuclear matrix element. Tests have demonstrated that camo crystals produce the brightest scintillation light among all of the molybdate crystals, both at room and at cryogenic temperatures. $mathrm{^{48depl}Ca^{100}MoO_4}$ crystals are being operated at milli-Kelvin temperatures and read out via specially developed metallic-magnetic-calorimeter (MMC) temperature sensors that have excellent energy resolution and relatively fast response times. The excellent energy resolution provides good discrimination of signal from backgrounds, and the fast response time is important for minimizing the irreducible background caused by random coincidence of two-neutrino double-beta decay events of mohundred nuclei. Comparisons of the scintillating-light and phonon yields and pulse shape discrimination of the phonon signals will be used to provide redundant rejection of alpha-ray-induced backgrounds. An effective Majorana neutrino mass sensitivity that reaches the expected range of the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, i.e., 20-50 meV, could be achieved with a 200~kg array of $mathrm{^{48depl}Ca^{100}MoO_4}$ crystals operating for three years.
The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory (LNGS) searches for the neutrinoless double beta decay (0{ u}{beta}{beta}) of $^{76}$Ge. Germanium detectors made of material with an enriched $^{76}$Ge fraction act simultaneously as sources and detectors for this decay. During Phase I of the experiment mainly refurbished semi-coaxial Ge detectors from former experiments were used. For the upcoming Phase II, 30 new $^{76}$Ge enriched detectors of broad energy germanium (BEGe)-type were produced. A subgroup of these detectors has already been deployed in GERDA during Phase I. The present paper reviews the complete production chain of these BEGe detectors including isotopic enrichment, purification, crystal growth and diode production. The efforts in optimizing the mass yield and in minimizing the exposure of the $^{76}$Ge enriched germanium to cosmic radiation during processing are described. Furthermore, characterization measurements in vacuum cryostats of the first subgroup of seven BEGe detectors and their long-term behavior in liquid argon are discussed. The detector performance fulfills the requirements needed for the physics goals of GERDA Phase~II.
Neutrinoless double-$beta$ decay of $^{76}$Ge is searched for with germanium detectors where source and detector of the decay are identical. For the success of future experiments it is important to increase the mass of the detectors. We report here on the characterization and testing of five prototype detectors manufactured in inverted coaxial (IC) geometry from material enriched to 88% in $^{76}$Ge. IC detectors combine the large mass of the traditional semi-coaxial Ge detectors with the superior resolution and pulse shape discrimination power of point contact detectors which exhibited so far much lower mass. Their performance has been found to be satisfactory both when operated in vacuum cryostat and bare in liquid argon within the GERDA setup. The measured resolutions at the Q-value for double-$beta$ decay of $^{76}$Ge (Q$_{betabeta}$ = 2039 keV) are about 2.1 keV full width at half maximum in vacuum cryostat. After 18 months of operation within the ultra-low background environment of the GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment and an accumulated exposure of 8.5 kg$cdot$yr, the background index after analysis cuts is measured to be $4.9^{+7.3}_{-3.4}times 10^{-4}$ counts /(keV$cdot$kg$cdot$yr) around Q$_{betabeta}$. This work confirms the feasibility of IC detectors for the next-generation experiment LEGEND.
Two neutrino double beta decay of $^{76}$Ge to excited states of $^{76}$Se has been studied using data from Phase I of the GERDA experiment. An array composed of up to 14 germanium detectors including detectors that have been isotopically enriched in $^{76}$Ge was deployed in liquid argon. The analysis of various possible transitions to excited final states is based on coincidence events between pairs of detectors where a de-excitation $gamma$ ray is detected in one detector and the two electrons in the other. No signal has been observed and an event counting profile likelihood analysis has been used to determine Frequentist 90,% C.L. bounds for three transitions: ${0^+_{rm g.s.}-2^+_1}$: $T^{2 u}_{1/2}>$1.6$cdot10^{23}$ yr, ${0^+_{rm g.s.}-0^+_1}$: $T^{2 u}_{1/2}>$3.7$cdot10^{23}$ yr and ${0^+_{rm g.s.}-2^+_2}$: $T^{2 u}_{1/2}>$2.3$cdot10^{23}$ yr. These bounds are more than two orders of magnitude larger than those reported previously. Bayesian 90,% credibility bounds were extracted and used to exclude several models for the ${0^+_{rm g.s.}-0^+_1}$ transition.
The {sc Majorana} collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double beta decay using $^{76}$Ge, which has been shown to have a number of advantages in terms of sensitivities and backgrounds. The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay would show that lepton number is violated and that neutrinos are Majorana particles and would simultaneously provide information on neutrino mass. Attaining sensitivities for neutrino masses in the inverted hierarchy region, $15 - 50$ meV, will require large, tonne-scale detectors with extremely low backgrounds, at the level of $sim$1 count/t-y or lower in the region of the signal. The {sc Majorana} collaboration, with funding support from DOE Office of Nuclear Physics and NSF Particle Astrophysics, is constructing the {sc Demonstrator}, an array consisting of 40 kg of p-type point-contact high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors, of which $sim$30 kg will be enriched to 87% in $^{76}$Ge. The {sc Demonstrator} is being constructed in a clean room laboratory facility at the 4850 level (4300 m.w.e.) of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD. It utilizes a compact graded shield approach with the inner portion consisting of ultra-clean Cu that is being electroformed and machined underground. The primary aim of the {sc Demonstrator} is to show the feasibility of a future tonne-scale measurement in terms of backgrounds and scalability.
GERDA Collaboration: K.-H. Ackermann
,M. Agostini
,M. Allardt
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(2012)
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"The GERDA experiment for the search of 0 ubetabeta decay in ^{76}Ge"
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Peter Grabmayr
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