146 research outputs found
DANSSino: a pilot version of the DANSS neutrino detector
DANSSino is a reduced pilot version of a solid-state detector of reactor
antineutrinos (to be created within the DANSS project and installed under the
industrial 3 GW(th) reactor of the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant -- KNPP).
Numerous tests performed at a distance of 11 m from the reactor core
demonstrate operability of the chosen design and reveal the main sources of the
background. In spite of its small size (20x20x100 ccm), the pilot detector
turned out to be quite sensitive to reactor antineutrinos, detecting about 70
IBD events per day with the signal-to-background ratio about unity.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. arXiv admin note: substantial text
overlap with arXiv:1304.369
Search for sterile neutrinos at the DANSS experiment
DANSS is a highly segmented 1~m plastic scintillator detector. Its 2500
one meter long scintillator strips have a Gd-loaded reflective cover. The DANSS
detector is placed under an industrial 3.1~ reactor of the
Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant 350~km NW from Moscow. The distance to the core is
varied on-line from 10.7~m to 12.7~m. The reactor building provides about 50~m
water-equivalent shielding against the cosmic background. DANSS detects almost
5000 per day at the closest position with the cosmic
background less than 3. The inverse beta decay process is used to detect
. Sterile neutrinos are searched for assuming the model
(3 active and 1 sterile ). The exclusion area in the plane is obtained using a ratio of positron energy
spectra collected at different distances. Therefore results do not depend on
the shape and normalization of the reactor spectrum, as well
as on the detector efficiency. Results are based on 966 thousand antineutrino
events collected at 3 distances from the reactor core. The excluded area covers
a wide range of the sterile neutrino parameters up to
in the most sensitive region.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, version accepted for publicatio
Overconstrained estimates of neutrinoless double beta decay within the QRPA
Estimates of nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double beta decay
(0nu2beta) based on the quasiparticle random phase approximations (QRPA) are
affected by theoretical uncertainties, which can be substantially reduced by
fixing the unknown strength parameter g_pp of the residual particle-particle
interaction through one experimental constraint - most notably through the
two-neutrino double beta decay (2nu2beta) lifetime. However, it has been noted
that the g_pp adjustment via 2\nu2\beta data may bring QRPA models in
disagreement with independent data on electron capture (EC) and single beta
decay (beta^-) lifetimes. Actually, in two nuclei of interest for 0nu2beta
decay (Mo-100 and Cd-116), for which all such data are available, we show that
the disagreement vanishes, provided that the axial vector coupling g_A is
treated as a free parameter, with allowance for g_A<1 (``strong quenching'').
Three independent lifetime data (2nu2beta, EC, \beta^-) are then accurately
reproduced by means of two free parameters (g_pp, g_A), resulting in an
overconstrained parameter space. In addition, the sign of the 2nu2beta matrix
element M^2nu is unambiguously selected (M^2nu>0) by the combination of all
data. We discuss quantitatively, in each of the two nuclei, these
phenomenological constraints and their consequences for QRPA estimates of the
0nu2beta matrix elements and of their uncertainties.Comment: Revised version (27 pages, including 10 figures), focussed on Mo-100
and Cd-116. To appear in J. Phys. G: Nucl. Phys. (2008
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
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
The Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay (LEGEND)
The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay (0)
would show that lepton number is violated, reveal that neutrinos are Majorana
particles, and provide information on neutrino mass. A discovery-capable
experiment covering the inverted ordering region, with effective Majorana
neutrino masses of 15 - 50 meV, will require a tonne-scale experiment with
excellent energy resolution and extremely low backgrounds, at the level of
0.1 count /(FWHMtyr) in the region of the signal. The
current generation Ge experiments GERDA and the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR
utilizing high purity Germanium detectors with an intrinsic energy resolution
of 0.12%, have achieved the lowest backgrounds by over an order of magnitude in
the 0 signal region of all 0
experiments. Building on this success, the LEGEND collaboration has been formed
to pursue a tonne-scale Ge experiment. The collaboration aims to develop
a phased 0 experimental program with discovery potential
at a half-life approaching or at years, using existing resources as
appropriate to expedite physics results.Comment: Proceedings of the MEDEX'17 meeting (Prague, May 29 - June 2, 2017
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
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
The background in the neutrinoless double beta decay experiment GERDA
The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground
laboratory (LNGS) of INFN is searching for neutrinoless double beta decay of
76Ge. The signature of the signal is a monoenergetic peak at 2039 keV, the
Q-value of the decay, Q_bb. To avoid bias in the signal search, the present
analysis does not consider all those events, that fall in a 40 keV wide region
centered around Q_bb. The main parameters needed for the neutrinoless double
beta decay analysis are described. A background model was developed to describe
the observed energy spectrum. The model contains several contributions, that
are expected on the basis of material screening or that are established by the
observation of characteristic structures in the energy spectrum. The model
predicts a flat energy spectrum for the blinding window around Q_bb with a
background index ranging from 17.6 to 23.8*10^{-3} counts/(keV kg yr). A part
of the data not considered before has been used to test if the predictions of
the background model are consistent. The observed number of events in this
energy region is consistent with the background model. The background at Q-bb
is dominated by close sources, mainly due to 42K, 214Bi, 228Th, 60Co and alpha
emitting isotopes from the 226Ra decay chain. The individual fractions depend
on the assumed locations of the contaminants. It is shown, that after removal
of the known gamma peaks, the energy spectrum can be fitted in an energy range
of 200 kev around Q_bb with a constant background. This gives a background
index consistent with the full model and uncertainties of the same size
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