Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userStudy of Rare Nuclear Processes with CUORE
92
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
TeO2 bolometers have been used for many years to search for neutrinoless double beta decay in 130-Te. CUORE, a tonne-scale TeO2 detector array, recently published the most sensitive limit on the half-life, $T_{1/2}^{0 u} > 1.5 times 10^{25},$yr, which corresponds to an upper bound of $140-400$~meV on the effective Majorana mass of the neutrino. While it makes CUORE a world-leading experiment looking for neutrinoless double beta decay, it is not the only study that CUORE will contribute to in the field of nuclear and particle physics. As already done over the years with many small-scale experiments, CUORE will investigate both rare decays (such as the two-neutrino double beta decay of 130-Te and the hypothesized electron capture in 123-Te), and rare processes (e.g., dark matter and axion interactions). This paper describes some of the achievements of past experiments that used TeO2 bolometers, and perspectives for CUORE.
rate research
Read More
The radioactive contamination of a BaF$_2$ scintillation crystal with mass of 1.714 kg was measured over 101 hours in the low-background DAMA/R&D set-up deep underground (3600 m w.e.) at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories of INFN (LNGS, Italy). The half-life of $^{212}$Po (present in the crystal scintillator due to contamination by radium) was measured as $T_{1/2}(^{212}$Po) = 298.8$pm$0.8(stat.)$pm$1.4(syst.) ns by analysis of the events pulse profiles. The $^{222}$Rn nuclide is known as 100% decaying via emission of $alpha$ particle with $T_{1/2}$ = 3.82 d; however, its $beta$ decay is also energetically allowed with $Q_beta = 24pm21$ keV. Search for decay chains of events with specific pulse shapes characteristic for $alpha$ or for $beta/gamma$ signals and with known energies and time differences allowed us to set, for the first time, the limit on the branching ratio of $^{222}$Rn relatively to $beta$ decay as $B_beta < 0.13$% at 90% C.L. (equivalent to limit on partial half-life $T_{1/2}^beta > 8.0$ y). Half-life limits of $^{212}$Pb, $^{222}$Rn and $^{226}$Ra relatively to $2beta$ decays are also improved in comparison with the earlier results.
The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is the first bolometric experiment searching for neutrinoless double beta decay that has been able to reach the 1-ton scale. The detector consists of an array of 988 TeO2 crystals arranged in a cylindrical compact structure of 19 towers. The construction of the experiment and, in particular, the installation of all towers in the cryostat was completed in August 2016, followed by the cooldown to base temperature at the beginning of 2017. The CUORE detector is now operational and has been taking science data since Spring 2017. We present here the initial performance of the detector and the preliminary results from the first detector run.
We report on a search for double beta decay of $^{130}$Te to the first $0^{+}$ excited state of $^{130}$Xe using a 9.8 kg$cdot$yr exposure of $^{130}$Te collected with the CUORE-0 experiment. In this work we exploit different topologies of coincident events to search for both the neutrinoless and two-neutrino double-decay modes. We find no evidence for either mode and place lower bounds on the half-lives: $tau^{0 u}_{0^+}>7.9cdot 10^{23}$ yr and $tau^{2 u}_{0^+}>2.4cdot 10^{23}$ yr. Combining our results with those obtained by the CUORICINO experiment, we achieve the most stringent constraints available for these processes: $tau^{0 u}_{0^+}>1.4cdot 10^{24}$ yr and $tau^{2 u}_{0^+}>2.5cdot 10^{23}$ yr.
ORKA is a proposed experiment to measure the K+ -> pi+nunubar branching ratio with 5% precision using the Fermilab Main Injector high-intensity proton source. The detector design is based on the BNL E787/E949 experiments, which detected seven K+ -> pi+nunubar candidate events. ORKA is expected to acheive two orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity relative to the BNL experiments as a result of enhancements to the beam line and the detector acceptance. Precise measurement of the K+ -> pi+nunubar branching ratio with the same level of uncertainty as the well-understood Standard Model prediction allows for sensitivity to new physics at and beyond the LHC mass scale. Detector R&D, simulation-based optimization of the experiment design, and preparation of the experiment location are underway.
The current status of the experimental searches for rare alpha and beta decays is reviewed. Several interesting observations of alpha and beta decays, previously unseen due to their large half-lives ($10^{15} - 10^{20}$ yr), have been achieved during the last years thanks to the improvements in the experimental techniques and to the underground locations of experiments that allows to suppress backgrounds. In particular, the list includes first observations of alpha decays of $^{151}$Eu, $^{180}$W (both to the ground state of the daughter nuclei), $^{190}$Pt (to excited state of the daughter nucleus), $^{209}$Bi (to the ground and excited states of the daughter nucleus). The isotope $^{209}$Bi has the longest known half-life of $T_{1/2} approx 10^{19}$ yr relatively to alpha decay. The beta decay of $^{115}$In to the first excited state of $^{115}$Sn (E$_{exc} = 497.334$ keV), recently observed for the first time, has the $Q_beta$ value of only $(147 pm 10)$ eV, which is the lowest $Q_beta$ value known to-date. Searches and investigations of other rare alpha and beta decays ($^{48}$Ca, $^{50}$V, $^{96}$Zr, $^{113}$Cd, $^{123}$Te, $^{178m2}$Hf, $^{180m}$Ta and others) are also discussed.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
