1,054 research outputs found
Formation of 24Mg* in the Splitting of 28Si Nuclei by 1-GeV Protons
The 28Si(p, p' gamma)24Mg reaction has been studied at the ITEP accelerator
by the hadron-gamma coincidence method for a proton energy of 1 GeV. Two
reaction products are detected: a 1368.6-keV gamma-ray photon accompanying the
transition of the 24Mg* nucleus from the first excited state to the ground
state and a proton p' whose momentum is measured in a magnetic spectrometer.
The measured distribution in the energy lost by the proton in interaction is
attributed to five processes: the direct knockout of a nuclear alpha cluster,
the knockout of four nucleons with a total charge number of 2, the formation of
the DeltaSi isobaric nucleus, the formation of the Delta isobar in the
interaction of the incident proton with a nuclear nucleon, and the production
of a pi meson, which is at rest in the nuclear reference frame. The last
process likely corresponds to the reaction of the formation of a deeply bound
pion state in the 28P nucleus. Such states were previously observed only on
heavy nuclei. The cross sections for the listed processes have been estimated.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures submitted to JETP Letter
The IGEX experiment revisited: a response to the critique of Klapdor-Kleingrothaus,Dietz, and Krivosheina
This paper is a response to the article "Critical View to" the IGEX
neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment..."published in Phys. Rev.D, Volume
65 (2002) 092007," by H.V.Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, A. Dietz, and I.V.Krivosheina,
published as preprint hep-ph/0403056. The criticisms are confronted, and the
questions raised are answered. We demonstrate that the lower limit quoted by
IGEX, for the half life of Ge-76 neutrinoless double beta decay, 1.57x10**25 y,
is correct and that there was no "arithmetical error"-as claimed in the "
Critical Review" article
Search for invisible decays of sub-GeV dark photons in missing-energy events at the CERN SPS
We report on a direct search for sub-GeV dark photons (A') which might be
produced in the reaction e^- Z \to e^- Z A' via kinetic mixing with photons by
100 GeV electrons incident on an active target in the NA64 experiment at the
CERN SPS. The A's would decay invisibly into dark matter particles resulting in
events with large missing energy. No evidence for such decays was found with
2.75\cdot 10^{9} electrons on target. We set new limits on the \gamma-A' mixing
strength and exclude the invisible A' with a mass < 100 MeV as an explanation
of the muon g_\mu-2 anomaly.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; Typos corrected, references adde
Characterization of 30 Ge enriched Broad Energy Ge detectors for GERDA Phase II
The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) is a low background experiment located
at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy, which searches for
neutrinoless double beta decay of Ge into Se+2e. GERDA has
been conceived in two phases. Phase II, which started in December 2015,
features several novelties including 30 new Ge detectors. These were
manufactured according to the Broad Energy Germanium (BEGe) detector design
that has a better background discrimination capability and energy resolution
compared to formerly widely-used types. Prior to their installation, the new
BEGe detectors were mounted in vacuum cryostats and characterized in detail in
the HADES underground laboratory in Belgium. This paper describes the
properties and the overall performance of these detectors during operation in
vacuum. The characterization campaign provided not only direct input for GERDA
Phase II data collection and analyses, but also allowed to study detector
phenomena, detector correlations as well as to test the strength of pulse shape
simulation codes.Comment: 29 pages, 18 figure
Background free search for neutrinoless double beta decay with GERDA Phase II
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 () decay should exist. The detection
of this extremely rare hypothetical process requires utmost suppression of any
kind of backgrounds.
The GERDA collaboration searches for decay of Ge
(^{76}\rm{Ge} \rightarrow\,^{76}\rm{Se} + 2e^-) by operating bare detectors
made from germanium with enriched Ge fraction in liquid argon. Here, we
report on first data of GERDA Phase II. A background level of
cts/(keVkgyr) 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 yr at 90 % C.L. Our sensitivity of
yr is competitive with the one of experiments with
significantly larger isotope mass.
GERDA is the first 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 decay motivates a
larger germanium experiment with higher sensitivity.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 1 table; ; data, figures and images available at
http://www.mpi-hd.mpg/gerda/publi
Limits on uranium and thorium bulk content in GERDA Phase I detectors
Internal contaminations of U, U and Th in the bulk of
high purity germanium detectors are potential backgrounds for experiments
searching for neutrinoless double beta decay of Ge. The data from GERDA
Phase~I have been analyzed for alpha events from the decay chain of these
contaminations by looking for full decay chains and for time correlations
between successive decays in the same detector. No candidate events for a full
chain have been found. Upper limits on the activities in the range of a few
nBq/kg for Ra, Ac and Th, the long-lived daughter
nuclides of U, U and Th, respectively, have been
derived. With these upper limits a background index in the energy region of
interest from Ra and Th contamination is estimated which
satisfies the prerequisites of a future ton scale germanium double beta decay
experiment.Comment: 2 figures, 7 page
A New 76Ge Double Beta Decay Experiment at LNGS
This Letter of Intent has been submitted to the Scientific Committee of the
INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in March 2004. It describes a
novel facility at the LNGS to study the double beta decay of 76Ge using an
(optionally active) cryogenic fluid shield. The setup will allow to scrutinize
with high significance on a short time scale the current evidence for
neutrinoless double beta decay of 76Ge using the existing 76Ge diodes from the
previous Heidelberg-Moscow and IGEX experiments. An increase in the lifetime
limit can be achieved by adding more enriched detectors, remaining thereby
background-free up to a few 100 kg-years of exposure.Comment: 67 pages, 19 eps figures, 17 tables, gzipped tar fil
Flux Modulations seen by the Muon Veto of the GERDA Experiment
The GERDA experiment at LNGS of INFN is equipped with an active muon veto.
The main part of the system is a water Cherenkov veto with 66~PMTs in the water
tank surrounding the GERDA cryostat. The muon flux recorded by this veto shows
a seasonal modulation. Two effects have been identified which are caused by
secondary muons from the CNGS neutrino beam (2.2 %) and a temperature
modulation of the atmosphere (1.4 %). A mean cosmic muon rate of /(sm) was found in good agreement with other experiments at
LNGS at a depth of 3500~meter water equivalent.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
decay of Ge into excited states with GERDA Phase I
Two neutrino double beta decay of Ge to excited states of Se
has been studied using data from Phase I of the GERDA experiment. An array
composed of up to 14 germanium detectors including detectors that have been
isotopically enriched in Ge was deployed in liquid argon. The analysis
of various possible transitions to excited final states is based on coincidence
events between pairs of detectors where a de-excitation ray is
detected in one detector and the two electrons in the other.
No signal has been observed and an event counting profile likelihood analysis
has been used to determine Frequentist 90\,\% C.L. bounds for three
transitions: : 1.6 yr,
: 3.7 yr and : 2.3 yr. These bounds are more
than two orders of magnitude larger than those reported previously. Bayesian
90\,\% credibility bounds were extracted and used to exclude several models for
the transition
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