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Search of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay with the GERDA Experiment

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 نشر من قبل Giovanni Benato
 تاريخ النشر 2015
  مجال البحث فيزياء
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 تأليف Giovanni Benato




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The Gerda experiment designed to search for the neutrinoless double beta decay in 76Ge has successfully completed the first data collection. No signal excess is found, and a lower limit on the half life of the process is set, with T1/2 > 2.1x10^25 yr (90% CL). After a review of the experimental setup and of the main Phase I results, the hardware upgrade for Gerda Phase II is described, and the physics reach of the new data collection is reported.



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The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment located at the INFN Gran Sasso Laboratory (Italy), is looking for the neutrinoless double beta decay of Ge76, by using high-purity germanium detectors made from isotopically enriched material. The combi nation of the novel experimental design, the careful material selection for radio-purity and the active/passive shielding techniques result in a very low residual background at the Q-value of the decay, about 1e-3 counts/(keV kg yr). This makes GERDA the first experiment in the field to be background-free for the complete design exposure of 100 kg yr. A search for neutrinoless double beta decay was performed with a total exposure of 47.7 kg yr: 23.2 kg yr come from the second phase (Phase II) of the experiment, in which the background is reduced by about a factor of ten with respect to the previous phase. The analysis presented in this paper includes 12.4 kg yr of new Phase II data. No evidence for a possible signal is found: the lower limit for the half-life of Ge76 is 8.0e25 yr at 90% CL. The experimental median sensitivity is 5.8e25 yr. The experiment is currently taking data. As it is running in a background-free regime, its sensitivity grows linearly with exposure and it is expected to surpass 1e26 yr within 2018.
The GERDA experiment searches for the lepton number violating neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{76}$Ge ($^{76}$Ge $rightarrow$ $^{76}$Se + 2e$^-$) operating bare Ge diodes with an enriched $^{76}$Ge fraction in liquid argon. The exposure for BEGe- type detectors is increased threefold with respect to our previous data release. The BEGe detectors feature an excellent background suppression from the analysis of the time profile of the detector signals. In the analysis window a background level of $1.0_{-0.4}^{+0.6}cdot10^{-3}$ cts/(keV$cdot$kg$cdot$yr) has been achieved; if normalized to the energy resolution this is the lowest ever achieved in any 0$ ubetabeta$ experiment. No signal is observed and a new 90 % C.L. lower limit for the half-life of $8.0cdot10^{25}$ yr is placed when combining with our previous data. The median expected sensitivity assuming no signal is $5.8cdot10^{25}$ yr.
Neutrinoless double-beta decay is a hypothesized process where in some even-even nuclei it might be possible for two neutrons to simultaneously decay into two protons and two electrons without emitting neutrinos. This is possible only if neutrinos ar e Majorana particles, i.e. fermions that are their own antiparticles. Neutrinos being Majorana particles would explicitly violate lepton number conservation, and might play a role in the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay would also provide complementary information related to neutrino masses. The Majorana Collaboration is constructing the Majorana Demonstrator, a 40-kg modular germanium detector array, to search for the Neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge and to demonstrate a background rate at or below 3 counts/(ROI-t-y) in the 4 keV region of interest (ROI) around the 2039 keV Q-value for 76Ge Neutrinoless double-beta decay. In this paper, we discuss the physics of neutrinoless double beta decay and then focus on the Majorana Demonstrator, including its design and approach to achieve ultra-low backgrounds and the status of the experiment.
The Standard Model of particle physics cannot explain the dominance of matter over anti-matter in our Universe. In many model extensions this is a very natural consequence of neutrinos being their own anti-particles (Majorana particles) which implies that a lepton number violating radioactive decay named neutrinoless double beta ($0 ubetabeta$) decay should exist. The detection of this extremely rare hypothetical process requires utmost suppression of any kind of backgrounds. The GERDA collaboration searches for $0 ubetabeta$ decay of $^{76}$Ge ($^{76}rm{Ge} rightarrow,^{76}rm{Se} + 2e^-$) by operating bare detectors made from germanium with enriched $^{76}$Ge fraction in liquid argon. Here, we report on first data of GERDA Phase II. A background level of $approx10^{-3}$ cts/(keV$cdot$kg$cdot$yr) has been achieved which is the world-best if weighted by the narrow energy-signal region of germanium detectors. Combining Phase I and II data we find no signal and deduce a new lower limit for the half-life of $5.3cdot10^{25}$ yr at 90 % C.L. Our sensitivity of $4.0cdot10^{25}$ yr is competitive with the one of experiments with significantly larger isotope mass. GERDA is the first $0 ubetabeta$ experiment that will be background-free up to its design exposure. This progress relies on a novel active veto system, the superior germanium detector energy resolution and the improved background recognition of our new detectors. The unique discovery potential of an essentially background-free search for $0 ubetabeta$ decay motivates a larger germanium experiment with higher sensitivity.
The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment searched for the lepton-number-violating neutrinoless double-$beta$ ($0 ubetabeta$) decay of $^{76}$Ge, whose discovery would have far-reaching implications in cosmology and particle physics. By operati ng bare germanium diodes, enriched in $^{76}$Ge, in an active liquid argon shield, GERDA achieved an unprecedently low background index of $5.2times10^{-4}$ counts/(keV$cdot$kg$cdot$yr) in the signal region and met the design goal to collect an exposure of 100 kg$cdot$yr in a background-free regime. When combined with the result of Phase I, no signal is observed after 127.2 kg$cdot$yr of total exposure. A limit on the half-life of $0 ubetabeta$ decay in $^{76}$Ge is set at $T_{1/2}>1.8times10^{26}$ yr at 90% C.L., which coincides with the sensitivity assuming no signal.
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