432 research outputs found
The Majorana experiment: an ultra-low background search for neutrinoless double-beta decay
The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay would resolve the Majorana
nature of the neutrino and could provide information on the absolute scale of
the neutrino mass. The initial phase of the Majorana experiment, known as the
Demonstrator, will house 40 kg of Ge in an ultra-low background shielded
environment at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Laboratory in Lead,
SD. The objective of the Demonstrator is to determine whether a future 1-tonne
experiment can achieve a background goal of one count per tonne-year in a
narrow region of interest around the 76Ge neutrinoless double-beta decay peak.Comment: Presentation for the Rutherford Centennial Conference on Nuclear
Physic
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR: A Search for Neutrinoless Double-beta Decay of Germanium-76
The {\sc Majorana} collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double beta
decay using Ge, which has been shown to have a number of advantages in
terms of sensitivities and backgrounds. The observation of neutrinoless
double-beta decay would show that lepton number is violated and that neutrinos
are Majorana particles and would simultaneously provide information on neutrino
mass. Attaining sensitivities for neutrino masses in the inverted hierarchy
region, meV, will require large, tonne-scale detectors with extremely
low backgrounds, at the level of 1 count/t-y or lower in the region of
the signal. The {\sc Majorana} collaboration, with funding support from DOE
Office of Nuclear Physics and NSF Particle Astrophysics, is constructing the
{\sc Demonstrator}, an array consisting of 40 kg of p-type point-contact
high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors, of which 30 kg will be enriched
to 87% in Ge. The {\sc Demonstrator} is being constructed in a clean
room laboratory facility at the 4850' level (4300 m.w.e.) of the Sanford
Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD. It utilizes a compact graded
shield approach with the inner portion consisting of ultra-clean Cu that is
being electroformed and machined underground. The primary aim of the {\sc
Demonstrator} is to show the feasibility of a future tonne-scale measurement in
terms of backgrounds and scalability.Comment: Proceedings for the MEDEX 2013 Conferenc
The Majorana Project
Building a \BBz experiment with the ability to probe neutrino mass in the
inverted hierarchy region requires the combination of a large detector mass
sensitive to \BBz, on the order of 1-tonne, and unprecedented background
levels, on the order of or less than 1 count per year in the \BBz signal
region. The MAJORANA Collaboration proposes a design based on using high-purity
enriched Ge-76 crystals deployed in ultra-low background electroformed Cu
cryostats and using modern analysis techniques that should be capable of
reaching the required sensitivity while also being scalable to a 1-tonne size.
To demonstrate feasibility, the collaboration plans to construct a prototype
system, the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, consisting of 30 kg of 86% enriched \Ge-76
detectors and 30 kg of natural or isotope-76-depleted Ge detectors. We plan to
deploy and evaluate two different Ge detector technologies, one based on a
p-type configuration and the other on n-type.Comment: paper submitted for the 2008 Carolina International Symposium on
Neutrino Physic
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR: A Search for Neutrinoless Double-beta Decay of Germanium-76
The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay would determine whether the
neutrino is a Majorana particle and provide information on the absolute scale
of neutrino mass. The MAJORANA Collaboration is constructing the DEMONSTRATOR,
an array of germanium detectors, to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay
of 76-Ge. The DEMONSTRATOR will contain 40 kg of germanium; up to 30 kg will be
enriched to 86% in 76-Ge. The DEMONSTRATOR will be deployed deep underground in
an ultra-low-background shielded environment. Operation of the DEMONSTRATOR
aims to determine whether a future tonne-scale germanium experiment can achieve
a background goal of one count per tonne-year in a 4-keV region of interest
around the 76-Ge neutrinoless double-beta decay Q-value of 2039 keV.Comment: Submitted to AIP Conference Proceedings, 19th Particles & Nuclei
International Conference (PANIC 2011), Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, MA, USA, July 24-29, 2011; 3 pages, 1 figur
Status of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiment
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR neutrinoless double beta-decay experiment is
currently under construction at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in
South Dakota, USA. An overview and status of the experiment are given.Comment: 8 pages, proceeding from VII International Conference on
Interconnections between Particle Physics and Cosmology (PPC 2013), submitted
to AIP proceeding
Search for Pauli Exclusion Principle Violating Atomic Transitions and Electron Decay with a P-type Point Contact Germanium Detector
A search for Pauli-exclusion-principle-violating K-alpha electron transitions
was performed using 89.5 kg-d of data collected with a p-type point contact
high-purity germanium detector operated at the Kimballton Underground Research
Facility. A lower limit on the transition lifetime of 5.8x10^30 seconds at 90%
C.L. was set by looking for a peak at 10.6 keV resulting from the x-ray and
Auger electrons present following the transition. A similar analysis was done
to look for the decay of atomic K-shell electrons into neutrinos, resulting in
a lower limit of 6.8x10^30 seconds at 90 C.L. It is estimated that the MAJORANA
DEMONSTRATOR, a 44 kg array of p-type point contact detectors that will search
for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76-Ge, could improve upon these
exclusion limits by an order of magnitude after three years of operation
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