24 research outputs found
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
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
Results on decay with emission of two neutrinos or Majorons in Ge from GERDA Phase I
A search for neutrinoless decay processes accompanied with
Majoron emission has been performed using data collected during Phase I of the
GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del
Gran Sasso of INFN (Italy). Processes with spectral indices n = 1, 2, 3, 7 were
searched for. No signals were found and lower limits of the order of 10
yr on their half-lives were derived, yielding substantially improved results
compared to previous experiments with Ge. A new result for the half-life
of the neutrino-accompanied decay of Ge with significantly
reduced uncertainties is also given, resulting in yr.Comment: 3 Figure
Limit on the Radiative Neutrinoless Double Electron Capture of Ar from GERDA Phase I
Neutrinoless double electron capture is a process that, if detected, would
give evidence of lepton number violation and the Majorana nature of neutrinos.
A search for neutrinoless double electron capture of Ar has been
performed with germanium detectors installed in liquid argon using data from
Phase I of the GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment at the Gran Sasso
Laboratory of INFN, Italy. No signal was observed and an experimental lower
limit on the half-life of the radiative neutrinoless double electron capture of
Ar was established: 3.6 10 yr at 90 % C.I.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
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
133In: A Rosetta Stone for decays of r-process nuclei
The decays from both the ground state and a long-lived isomer of
In were studied at the ISOLDE Decay Station (IDS). With a hybrid
detection system sensitive to , , and neutron spectroscopy, the
comparative partial half-lives (logft) have been measured for all their
dominant -decay channels for the first time, including a low-energy
Gamow-Teller transition and several First-Forbidden (FF) transitions. Uniquely
for such a heavy neutron-rich nucleus, their decays selectively
populate only a few isolated neutron unbound states in Sn. Precise
energy and branching-ratio measurements of those resonances allow us to
benchmark -decay theories at an unprecedented level in this region of
the nuclear chart. The results show good agreement with the newly developed
large-scale shell model (LSSM) calculations. The experimental findings
establish an archetype for the decay of neutron-rich nuclei southeast
of Sn and will serve as a guide for future theoretical development
aiming to describe accurately the key decays in the rapid-neutron
capture (r-) process
Beta-delayed neutron spectroscopy of In
The decay properties of In were studied in detail at the ISOLDE Decay
Station (IDS). The implementation of the Resonance Ionization Laser Ion Source
(RILIS) allowed separate measurements of its ground state (In)
and isomer (In). With the use of -delayed neutron and
spectroscopy, the decay strengths above the neutron separation energy
were quantified in this neutron-rich nucleus for the first time. The allowed
Gamow-Teller transition was located at 5.92 MeV in the
In decay with a logft = 4.7(1). In addition, several neutron-unbound
states were populated at lower excitation energies by the First-Forbidden
decays of In. We assigned spins and parities to those
neutron-unbound states based on the -decay selection rules, the logft
values, and systematics
Applying the strategic-relational approach to urban political ecology: The water management problems of the baixada fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
An optimized digital shaping filter has been developed for the Gerda experiment which searches for neutrinoless double beta decay in 76Ge. The Gerda Phase\ua0I energy calibration data have been reprocessed and an average improvement of 0.3\ua0keV in energy resolution (FWHM) corresponding to 10\ua0% at the Q value for 0\u3bd\u3b2\u3b2 decay in 76Ge is obtained. This is possible thanks to the enhanced low-frequency noise rejection of this Zero Area Cusp (ZAC) signal shaping filter