Current status of neutrinoless double-beta decay searches

AbstractThis article briefly reviews the current status and near-term prospects of experimental searches for neutrinoless double-beta decay. After discussing the motivation and history of neutrinoless double-beta decay, we will focus on the status of current experiments and the factors limiting their sensitivity. We will then discuss the prospects and requirements for proposed experiments that will probe the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy

The search for low-mass axion dark matter with ABRACADABRA-10cm

Two of the most pressing questions in physics are the microscopic nature of the dark matter that comprises 84% of the mass in the universe and the absence of a neutron electric dipole moment. These questions would be resolved by the existence of a hypothetical particle known as the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion. In this work, we probe the hypothesis that axions constitute dark matter, using the ABRACADABRA-10cm experiment in a broadband configuration, with world-leading sensitivity. We find no significant evidence for axions, and we present 95% upper limits on the axion-photon coupling down to the world-leading level $g_{a\gamma\gamma}<3.2 \times10^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$, representing one of the most sensitive searches for axions in the 0.41 - 8.27 neV mass range. Our work paves a direct path for future experiments capable of confirming or excluding the hypothesis that dark matter is a QCD axion in the mass range motivated by String Theory and Grand Unified Theories.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

Design and Implementation of the ABRACADABRA-10 cm Axion Dark Matter Search

The past few years have seen a renewed interest in the search for light particle dark matter. ABRACADABRA is a new experimental program to search for axion dark matter over a broad range of masses, $10^{-12}\lesssim m_a\lesssim10^{-6}$ eV. ABRACADABRA-10 cm is a small-scale prototype for a future detector that could be sensitive to QCD axion couplings. In this paper, we present the details of the design, construction, and data analysis for the first axion dark matter search with the ABRACADABRA-10 cm detector. We include a detailed discussion of the statistical techniques used to extract the limit from the first result with an emphasis on creating a robust statistical footing for interpreting those limits.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

\textsc{MaGe} - a {\sc Geant4}-based Monte Carlo Application Framework for Low-background Germanium Experiments

We describe a physics simulation software framework, MAGE, that is based on the GEANT4 simulation toolkit. MAGE is used to simulate the response of ultra-low radioactive background radiation detectors to ionizing radiation, specifically the MAJORANA and GERDA neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments. MAJORANA and GERDA use high-purity germanium detectors to search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge, and MAGE is jointly developed between these two collaborations. The MAGE framework contains the geometry models of common objects, prototypes, test stands, and the actual experiments. It also implements customized event generators, GEANT4 physics lists, and output formats. All of these features are available as class libraries that are typically compiled into a single executable. The user selects the particular experimental setup implementation at run-time via macros. The combination of all these common classes into one framework reduces duplication of efforts, eases comparison between simulated data and experiment, and simplifies the addition of new detectors to be simulated. This paper focuses on the software framework, custom event generators, and physics lists.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

MaGe-a Geant4-Based Monte Carlo Application Framework for Low-Background Germanium Experiments

We describe a physics simulation software framework, MAGE, that is based on the GEANT4 simulation toolkit. MAGE is used to simulate the response of ultra-low radioactive background radiation detectors to ionizing radiation, specifically the MAJORANA and GERDA neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments. MAJORANA and GERDA use high-purity germanium detectors to search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge, and MAGE is jointly developed between these two collaborations. The MAGE framework contains the geometry models of common objects, prototypes, test stands, and the actual experiments. It also implements customized event generators, GEANT4 physics lists, and output formats. All of these features are available as class libraries that are typically compiled into a single executable. The user selects the particular experimental setup implementation at run-time via macros. The combination of all these common classes into one framework reduces duplication of efforts, eases comparison between simulated data and experiment, and simplifies the addition of new detectors to be simulated. This paper focuses on the software framework, custom event generators, and physics lists

US Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter 2017: Community Report

This white paper summarizes the workshop "U.S. Cosmic Visions: New Ideas in Dark Matter" held at University of Maryland on March 23-25, 2017.Comment: 102 pages + reference

Search for antideuterons and strangelets in cosmic rays with AMS-01

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, February 2004.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-119).AMS (the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) is a high-energy particle detector in space. An engineer- ing version of AMS, AMS-01, flew on the space shuttle Discovery for ten days in June 1998 and collected 108 cosmic ray events. This thesis extends the previous results of the AMS-01 flight by performing a search for antideuterons (⁻D) in cosmic rays. Antideuterons in cosmic rays could be a signal for neutralino dark matter annihilation, primordial black hole evaporation and other interesting processes. No DÌ nuclei were found, and a flux limit is estimated. We also present the results of preliminary strangelet search. Some interesting effects of the Mir space station on AMS-01 when Discovery was docked with Mir are also discussed.by Reyco Henning.Ph.D