Results from the Cuore Experiment

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is the first bolometric experiment searching for neutrinoless double beta decay that has been able to reach the 1-ton scale. The detector consists of an array of 988 TeO2 crystals arranged in a cylindrical compact structure of 19 towers, each of them made of 52 crystals. The construction of the experiment was completed in August 2016 and the data taking started in spring 2017 after a period of commissioning and tests. In this work we present the neutrinoless double beta decay results of CUORE from examining a total TeO2 exposure of 86.3kg yr, characterized by an effective energy resolution of 7.7 keV FWHM and a background in the region of interest of 0.014 counts/ (keV kg yr). In this physics run, CUORE placed a lower limit on the decay half- life of neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te > 1.3.1025 yr (90% C. L.). Moreover, an analysis of the background of the experiment is presented as well as the measurement of the 130Te 2vo3p decay with a resulting half- life of T2 2. [7.9 :- 0.1 (stat.) :- 0.2 (syst.)] x 10(20) yr which is the most precise measurement of the half- life and compatible with previous results

The commissioning of the CUORE experiment: the mini-tower run

CUORE is a ton-scale experiment approaching the data taking phase in Gran Sasso National Laboratory. Its primary goal is to search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay in 130Te using 988 crystals of tellurim dioxide. The crystals are operated as bolometers at about 10 mK taking advantage of one of the largest dilution cryostat ever built. Concluded in March 2016, the cryostat commissioning consisted in a sequence of cool down runs each one integrating new parts of the apparatus. The last run was performed with the fully configured cryostat and the thermal load at 4 K reached the impressive mass of about 14 tons. During that run the base temperature of 6.3 mK was reached and maintained for more than 70 days. An array of 8 crystals, called mini-tower, was used to check bolometers operation, readout electronics and DAQ. Results will be presented in terms of cooling power, electronic noise, energy resolution and preliminary background measurements

Kaonic atoms and strangeness in nuclei: SIDDHARTA-2 and AMADEUS experiments

The dynamics of the strong interaction processes in the non-perturbative regime is currently approached by lattice calculations and effective field theories (ChPT), still lacking several experimental results, fundamental for a good understanding of the strangeness sector. Among these, the information provided by the low-energy kaon nucleon/nuclei interaction, accessible through the study of kaonic atoms and kaonic nuclear processes, plays a key-role. The lightest atomic systems, the kaonic hydrogen and the kaonic deuterium, deliver, in a model-independent way, the isospin-dependent kaon-nucleon scattering lengths, through the X- ray spectroscopy of the exotic atoms de-exciting to the fundamental level. The most precise kaonic hydrogen measurement to-date, together with an exploratory measurement of kaonic deuterium, were carried out in 2009 at the DAΦNE collider, by the SIDDHARTA collaboration. Nowadays, an upgraded setup was built, for a precise measurement of kaonic deuterium and, eventually, of heavier exotic atoms. A correlated study of the kaon-nuclei interaction at momenta below 130 MeV/c is carried out by the AMADEUS collaboration, using the KLOE detector and dedicated targets inserted near the collider interaction point. Preliminary results of the study of charged antikaons interacting with nuclei are shown, including a discussion of the still controversial Λ(1405)

A Charge Sensitive Preamplifier for High Peak Stability in Spectroscopic Measurements at High Counting Rates

none1C. FIORINIFiorini, CARLO ETTOR

An eight channel low-noise CMOS readout circuit for silicon detectors with on-chip front-end FET

We propose a CMOS readout circuit for the processing of signals from multi-channel silicon detectors to be used in X-ray spectroscopy and γ-ray imaging applications. The circuit is composed by eight channels, each one featuring a low-noise preamplifier, a 6th-order semigaussian shaping amplifier with four selectable peaking times, from 1.8 up to 6 μs, a peak stretcher and a discriminator. The circuit is conceived to be used with silicon detectors with a front-end FET integrated on the detector chips itself, like silicon drift detectors with JFET and pixel detectors with DEPMOS. The integrated time constants used for the shaping are implemented by means of an RC-cell, based on the technique of demagnification of the current flowing in a resistor R by means of the use of current mirrors. The eight analog channels of the chip are multiplexed to a single analog output. A suitable digital section provides self-resetting of each channel and trigger output and is able to set independent thresholds on the analog channels by means of a programmable serial register and 3-bit DACs. The circuit has been realized in the 0.35 μm CMOS AMS technology. In this work, the main features of the circuit are presented along with the experimental results of its characterization. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved