Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2019 Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics
Volume 64, Number 12
Monday–Thursday, October 14–17, 2019; Crystal City, Virginia
Session RB: Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay |
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Chair: David Radford, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Room: Salon 2 |
Thursday, October 17, 2019 8:30AM - 8:42AM |
RB.00001: EXO-200 Result with Full Dataset Zepeng Li, Caio Licciardi The EXO-200 Collaboration has been searching for neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\!\beta$) using a liquid xenon time projection chamber filled with $\sim150$~kg of enriched $^{136}$Xe. EXO-200 began data taking in September 2011 and has now completed operations as of December 2018. This talk will present the most recent result from the collaboration accounting for the full dataset. The new analysis introduces the use of a convolutional neural network to maximize the topological discrimination between $0\nu\beta\!\beta$ signal and $\gamma$ backgrounds, while the signal detection efficiency is near maximal and the energy resolution is 1.15\%. No statistically significant evidence for $0\nu\beta\!\beta$ was observed, leading to a lower limit on the half-life of $3.5\cdot10^{25}$~yr at the 90\% confidence level and corresponding search sensitivity of $5.0\cdot10^{25}$~yr, placed among the world's best in the field. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, October 17, 2019 8:42AM - 8:54AM |
RB.00002: First Results from KamLAND-Zen 800 Christopher Grant KamLAND-Zen is searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe with a 1-kiloton liquid scintillator detector. The experiment was one of the first to reach a half-life sensitivity of $10^{26}$ years, which was obtained by instrumenting roughly 380 kg of enriched Xe in a small balloon. Since then, a new balloon was constructed in order to increase the amount of enriched Xe and further improve the half-life sensitivity. This major detector upgrade finished just last year, and in January of 2019, KamLAND-Zen began taking data with nearly a ton ($\sim$750 kg) of enriched $^{136}$Xe. New results from the 750 kg data will be presented, along with an outline of future upgrades leading to KamLAND2-Zen. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, October 17, 2019 8:54AM - 9:06AM |
RB.00003: Status and Results from the NEXT Experiment Katherine Woodruff The search for neutrinoless double beta decay requires detection techniques with unprecedented low background contamination in the signal ROI. The NEXT program aims to meet these requirements using high-pressure xenon gas electroluminescent time projection chambers. This talk will present results from the NEXT-White detector, the presently running phase of the NEXT detector program, demonstrating radio-purity energy resolution and topological discrimination. Additionally, techniques to eliminate remaining backgrounds by identifying the barium daughter ion are being developed to be implemented in later stages of the NEXT program. The latest results and progress on the barium tagging program will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, October 17, 2019 9:06AM - 9:18AM |
RB.00004: Update on the Status of the CUPID-Mo Demonstrator Jonathan Ouellet CUORE is the first ton-scale cryogenic bolometer experiment searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay. The successor to CUORE, called CUPID, is designed to improve the half-life sensitivity of CUORE by almost two orders of magnitude and fully probe the so-called “inverted hierarchy” region of the effective majorana neutrino mass. The technology for CUPID is currently being employed in the CUPID-Mo demonstrator, which is searching for the 0$\nu\beta\beta$ decay of $^{100}$Mo. CUPID-Mo consists of 20 enriched $\sim$0.2 kg Li$_{2}{}^{100}$MoO$_4$ scintillating crystals, complemented by 20 light-detecting Ge bolometers. By comparing the heat vs light signals, CUPID-Mo is able to distinguish $\alpha$ events from $\beta/\gamma$ events for a powerful background discriminant. CUPID-Mo began data taking in Spring 2019. In this talk, we will present early results from the first data collected with CUPID-Mo, an updated prediction for its expected sensitivity, and an outlook on the prospects of CUPID. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, October 17, 2019 9:18AM - 9:30AM |
RB.00005: The nEXO Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Experiment Brian Lenardo The nEXO experiment is a proposed next-generation search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe. The discovery of this process would simultaneously demonstrate lepton number violation and the existence of fundamental Majorana fermions, establishing new physics beyond the Standard Model. The primary detector will be a 5-ton, monolithic liquid xenon TPC with a target enriched to 90\% in the isotope of interest. In this talk, we will introduce the science goals of nEXO and discuss how the detector has been designed to meet them. The experiment is projected to reach an exclusion sensitivity of approximately 10$^{28}$yrs, superseding existing limits by two orders of magnitude and entirely covering the inverted hierarchy region. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, October 17, 2019 9:30AM - 9:42AM |
RB.00006: Calibration of nEXO light response Prakash Gautam nEXO is a proposed 5 tonne liquid xenon experiment which seeks to detect neutrinoless double beta decay($0\nu\beta\beta$) in Xe-136 using Time Projection Chamber(TPC) technology. The experiment will use the combination of scintillation and ionization signals to reconstruct events with an energy resolution of 1\% $\sigma/E$ at the $0\nu\beta\beta$ Q-value. The scintillation light will be collected by silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) around the sides of the detector, and their collection efficiency will vary as a function of event position. In this talk, we present the strategy for calibrating light response in the nEXO detector. We will deploy a suite of calibration sources, including external $\gamma$-ray sources and internal sources dissolved in the liquid xenon. Using nEXO Monte Carlo data, we have demonstrated the use of machine learning techniques to effectively map the light response of the detector while minimizing calibration time. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, October 17, 2019 9:42AM - 9:54AM |
RB.00007: Searching for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{76}$Ge with the LEGEND experiment Alexey Drobizhev LEGEND---The Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay---is an experiment that will search for the neutrinoless double-beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay of $^{76}$Ge. The observation of this lepton number violating process would establish the Majorana nature of the neutrino, with implications for physics beyond the standard model. The \textsc{Majorana Demonstrator} and GERDA, two $^{76}$Ge experiments currently operating, lead the field in the key design parameters of energy resolution and background reduction. Building on their success, the LEGEND collaboration is developing a phased next-generation $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay search. LEGEND-200, currently ramping up, will host $\sim$200 kg of enriched HPGe detectors in the existing GERDA infrastructure at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. The subsequent LEGEND-1000 detector will be a tonne-scale HPGe array with a $^{76}$Ge $0\nu\beta\beta$ half-life sensitivity greater than $10^{28}$ years. In this talk, we present the plans and physics reach of LEGEND. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, October 17, 2019 9:54AM - 10:06AM |
RB.00008: Detector Acceptance Characterization for the LEGEND-200 Experiment Morgan Clark The LEGEND-200 experiment will search for neutrinoless double beta decay in 76Ge using approximately 200 kg of high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors enriched to \textgreater 86{\%} in 76Ge. To reach the total mass, we will reuse 60 kg of p-type point contact (PPC) detectors from the GERDA and MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiments and are working with several vendors to fabricate 140 kg of a new type of HPGe detectors known as inverted coaxial point contact detectors (ICPC). The ICPC detectors have the advantage of being larger than the PPC detectors. The collaboration needs to fully characterize these detectors post production before they are deployed in the experiment's liquid Ar cryostat. The standard acceptance tests include measurements of each detector's efficiency and energy resolution, timing response, and dead layer. We also plan additional specialized measurements including radial and longitudinal scans of the detectors with selected sources, measurements in a liquid argon (LAr) immersion test apparatus, and alpha- and beta-source scans across the detectors' passivated surfaces. A description of the overall LEGEND-200 characterization program including some initial measurement results will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, October 17, 2019 10:06AM - 10:18AM |
RB.00009: Signal Readout Electronics for the LEGEND-200 Experiment Michael Willers LEGEND (Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay) is a ton-scale experimental program searching for neutrinoless double beta decay (0vbb) using high-purity germanium detectors enriched in the isotope 76Ge. On-site construction of its first 200-kg stage (LEGEND-200) will start at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (Laboratori Nazionale del Gran Sasso, LNGS) in early 2020. To achieve the projected half-life sensitivity of $>10^{27} \,\textrm{years}$, ultra-clean low-noise signal readout electronics are essential. In this presentation, the current status of the signal readout electronics for LEGEND-200 as well as the characterization of prototype devices will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
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