Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2010
Volume 55, Number 1
Saturday–Tuesday, February 13–16, 2010; Washington, DC
Session B8: Neutrino Physics II |
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Sponsoring Units: DNP Chair: Vincente Guiseppe, University of South Dakota Room: Delaware B |
Saturday, February 13, 2010 10:45AM - 10:57AM |
B8.00001: The search for neutrinoless double beta decay with CUORE Laura Kogler The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is an experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0nuDBD) in Te-130, as well as other rare processes. Observation of 0nuDBD would indicate that neutrinos are Majorana particles and would provide information about the absolute neutrino mass scale. The experiment will be composed of an array of 988 TeO2 crystals arranged in 19 towers and operated as bolometers. I will discuss the status of the CUORE experiment, including recent R\&D efforts, anticipated backgrounds and sensitivity, and the construction of CUORE-0, the first tower to be built in the CUORE design. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, February 13, 2010 10:57AM - 11:09AM |
B8.00002: M{\sc ajo\-ra\-na}: An Ultra-Low Background Enriched-Germanium Detector Array for Fundamental Physics Measurements Victor Gehman The M{\sc ajo\-ra\-na} collaboration will search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0$\nu\beta\beta$) by fielding an array of high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors in ultra-clean electroformed-copper cryostats deep underground. Recent advances in HPGe detector technology, in particular P-type Point-Contact (PPC) detectors, present exciting new techniques for identifying and reducing backgrounds to the 0$\nu\beta\beta$ signal. This should result in greatly improved sensitivity over previous generation experiments. The very low energy threshold attainable with PPC detectors also provides for a broader physics program including searches for dark matter and axions. The M{\sc ajo\-ra\-na} D{\sc e\-mon\-strat\-or} is an R\&D program that will field three $\sim$20~kg modules of PPC detectors at Sanford Underground Laboratory. Half of the detectors will be enriched to 86\% in $^{76}$Ge. Here, we will cover the motivation, design, recent progress and current status of this effort, with special attention to its physics reach. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, February 13, 2010 11:09AM - 11:21AM |
B8.00003: Modeling backgrounds to the {\sc{Majorana}} neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment Alexis Schubert The {\sc{Majorana}} Collaboration\footnote{F.T. Avignone III (2007) arXiv:0711.4808v1} proposes a search for neutrinoless double-beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) of $^{76}$Ge in an array of germanium detectors. The observation of $0\nu\beta\beta$ could determine the mass scale of the neutrino and determine whether the neutrino is a Majorana particle. {\sc{Majorana}} plans to begin searching for $0\nu\beta\beta$ with the {\sc{Demonstrator}}, a 60-kg detector array. To achieve high sensitivity, {\sc{Majorana}} requires an extremely low background rate. Radioactive decays and cosmogenically-induced radiation create backgrounds to the potential $0\nu\beta\beta$ signal. {\sc{Majorana}} will minimize backgrounds by operating deep underground, using high-purity materials, and installing passive and active shielding. Pulse-shape analysis, detector-to-detector coincidences, and timing correlation will separate many remaining backgrounds from potential $0\nu\beta\beta$ events. Understanding and minimization of backgrounds to the $0\nu\beta\beta$ signal are critical to the sensitivity of the experiment. A {\sc{Majorana}} background model will describe the expected background energy spectrum using simulation results validated with experimental data. This talk will describe the current status of the {\sc{Majorana}} background model. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, February 13, 2010 11:21AM - 11:33AM |
B8.00004: Overview and Status of the EXO-200 Double Beta Decay Experiment Simon Slutsky The Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) is an experimental program to search for neutrinoless double beta decay in 136Xe.~ A positive result would be the first observation of a lepton-number violating process and would give information about the neutrino mass. The first EXO experiment, EXO-200, is currently being installed and commissioned at the WIPP facility in Carlsbad, NM.~ EXO-200 will use a TPC with 200 kg of liquid xenon, isotopically enriched to 80{\%} in 136Xe, to achieve sensitivity to a Majorana neutrino mass of 130-190 meV. This talk will present an overview of EXO-200 and the status of the project. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, February 13, 2010 11:33AM - 11:45AM |
B8.00005: Measuring Neutrinoless Double Electron Capture with $^{124}$Xe in Xenon Experiments Jason Spaans, Dongming Mei, Chao Zhang The neutrinoless double-electron capture (0$\nu e^-e^-$ capture) involves Majorana neutrinos and it is an alternative decay mode in $\beta\beta$ decay. It would violate lepton number conservation and mark physics beyond the Standard Model if it is observed. This paper will discuss the possible signature and sensitivity for measuring 0$\nu e^-e^-$ capture with $^{124}$Xe in Xenon Experiments. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, February 13, 2010 11:45AM - 11:57AM |
B8.00006: Single atom barium sources for EXO barium tagging development Yung-Ruey Yen Barium tagging, the extraction and identification of the $^{136} $Xe double beta decay daughter product, would allow the Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO) experiment to eliminate almost all backgrounds. The collaboration has made much progress in developing an ion probe to extract a barium ion from either liquid or gas xenon and an ion trap to identify a single barium ion. Yet the true efficiencies of these methods cannot be known until a source of single barium ions is available. I will talk about the Ba source R\&D efforts of the EXO collaboration; they include 1) using the alpha recoil of $^{148}$Gd on a thin layer of BaF$_{2}$, 2) using an electrostatic gate to select single atoms from a Ba ion beam, and 3) using chemistry to isolate $^ {137}$Cs which then beta decays to Ba$^{+}$. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, February 13, 2010 11:57AM - 12:09PM |
B8.00007: Development of Resonance ionization Spectroscopy for highly efficient transport of single ions Karl Twelker Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (RIS) has been shown to be a highly efficient method of selective ionization. We are investigating RIS as part of a high-efficiency single ion transport method to retrieve Barium ions produced in double beta decay of Xenon-136 and inject them in a ion trap where they are identified via optical spectroscopy. This Ba-tagging technique would substantially reduce the background due to radioactive impurities in very large double-beta decay experiments. RIS is used to re-ionize the Ba atoms after they are desorbed from the substrate on which they had been captured. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, February 13, 2010 12:09PM - 12:21PM |
B8.00008: Inelastic neutron scattering on natural copper as a background for neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments M. Boswell, M. Devlin, S.R. Elliott, N. Fotiades, V. Guiseppe, A. Hime, D.-M. Mei, R.O. Nelson, D.V. Perepelitsa Neutron interactions with shielding materials provide a non-trivial source of background for rare physics searches such as dark-matter and double-beta decay experiments. These shielding materials, such as $^{nat}$Cu, are often used in large quantities, completely encasing the detector. We have recently measured the inelastic neutron scattering on a natural copper target with the GEANIE spectrometer using the broad-spectrum neutron beam at LANSCE. Our work focuses specifically on determining background rates for regions around the Q-values of many candidate $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay isotopes, as well as providing data for benchmarking Monte Carlo simulations of background events. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, February 13, 2010 12:21PM - 12:33PM |
B8.00009: Fast-Neutron Activation of Long-Lived Isotopes in Enriched Ge V.E. Guiseppe, S.R. Elliott, B.H. LaRoque, S. Mashnik, R.A. Johnson We measured the production of $^{57}$Co, $^{54}$Mn, $^{68}$Ge, $^{65}$Zn, and $^{60}$Co in a sample of Ge enriched in isotope 76 due to high-energy neutron interactions using a neutron beam at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. The activated sample was counted with a Ge detector to measure the amount of radioactive isotopes present. These isotopes are critical in understanding backgrounds in Ge detectors used for double beta decay experiments due to cosmogenic neutron interactions in the detectors while they reside on the Earth's surface. We will present the measured production and that predicted by cross section calculations based on CEM03.02. We will also present a predicted cosmogenic production rate based on a measured cosmic-ray neutron flux and our results. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, February 13, 2010 12:33PM - 12:45PM |
B8.00010: Improvement of GEANT4 Simulation in Nuclear Internal Conversion Model Chao Zhang, Dongming Mei The internal conversion codes in GEANT4 are corrected. Specifically, we focus on the process of E0 transition of $^{72}Ge(n,n'e)$ which is unable to be actually produced in GEANT4 mainly due to insufficient cross-section information in GEANT4 database. In addition, we also provide an approach to provide this part of data and activate the process in GEANT4 simulation. [Preview Abstract] |
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