Status Update of the Majorana Demonstrator Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Experiment

[摘要] Neutrinoless double beta decay searches play a major role in determining neutrino properties, in particular the Majorana or Dirac nature of the neutrino and the absolute scale of the neutrino mass. The consequences of these searches go beyond neutrino physics, with implications for Grand Unification and leptogenesis. The Majorana Collaboration is assembling a low-background array of high purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in ⁷⁶Ge. The Majorana Demonstrator, which is currently being constructed and commissioned at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, will contain 44 kg (30 kg enriched in ⁷⁶Ge) of HPGe detectors. Its primary goal is to demonstrate the scalability and background required for a tonne-scale Ge experiment. This is accomplished via a modular design and projected background of less than 3 cnts/tonne-yr in the region of interest. The experiment is currently taking data with the first of its enriched detectors.

[发布日期] 2015-11-10

[学科分类] 核物理和高能物理

[关键词] DOUBLE BETA DECAY;HIGH-PURITY GE DETECTORS;NEUTRINOS;GERMANIUM 76;GRAND UNIFIED THEORY;GERMANIUM;UNDERGROUND;PARTICLE PRODUCTION;MODULAR STRUCTURES;BACKGROUND RADIATION;MASS Atomic and Nuclear Physics