The Majorana Demonstrator: A Search for Neutrinoless Double-beta Decay of 76Ge

W Xu; N Abgrall; F T Avignone; A S Barabash; F E Bertrand; V Brudanin; M Busch; M Buuck; D Byram; A S Caldwell; Y-D Chan; C D Christofferson; C Cuesta; J A Detwiler; Yu Efremenko; H Ejiri; S R Elliott; A Galindo-Uribarri; G K Giovanetti; J Goett; M P Green; J Gruszko; I Guinn; V E Guiseppe; R Henning; E W Hoppe; S Howard; M A Howe; B R Jasinski; K J Keeter; M F Kidd; S I Konovalov; R T Kouzes; B D LaFerriere; J Leon; J MacMullin; R D Martin; S J Meijer; S Mertens; J L Orrell; C O'Shaughnessy; N R Overman; A W P Poon; D C Radford; J Rager; K Rielage; R G H Robertson; E Romero-Romero; M C Ronquest; B Shanks; M Shirchenko; N Snyder; A M Suriano; D Tedeschi; J E Trimble; R L Varner; S Vasilyev; K Vetter; K Vorren; B R White; J F Wilkerson; C Wiseman; E Yakushev; C-H Yu; V Yumatov; (The Majorana Collaboration)

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/606/1/012004

Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Paper • The following article is Open access

The Majorana Demonstrator: A Search for Neutrinoless Double-beta Decay of ⁷⁶Ge

W Xu¹, N Abgrall², F T Avignone III^3,4, A S Barabash⁵, F E Bertrand⁴, V Brudanin⁶, M Busch^7,8, M Buuck⁹, D Byram¹⁰, A S Caldwell¹¹, Y-D Chan², C D Christofferson¹¹, C Cuesta⁹, J A Detwiler⁹, Yu Efremenko¹², H Ejiri¹³, S R Elliott¹, A Galindo-Uribarri⁴, G K Giovanetti^14,8, J Goett¹, M P Green⁴, J Gruszko⁹, I Guinn⁹, V E Guiseppe³, R Henning^14,8, E W Hoppe¹⁵, S Howard¹¹, M A Howe^14,8, B R Jasinski¹⁰, K J Keeter¹⁶, M F Kidd¹⁷, S I Konovalov⁵, R T Kouzes¹⁵, B D LaFerriere¹⁵, J Leon⁹, J MacMullin^14,8, R D Martin¹⁰, S J Meijer^14,8, S Mertens², J L Orrell¹⁵, C O'Shaughnessy^14,8, N R Overman¹⁵, A W P Poon², D C Radford⁴, J Rager^14,8, K Rielage¹, R G H Robertson⁹, E Romero-Romero^12,4, M C Ronquest¹, B Shanks^14,8, M Shirchenko⁶, N Snyder¹⁰, A M Suriano¹¹, D Tedeschi³, J E Trimble^14,8, R L Varner⁴, S Vasilyev⁶, K Vetter^2,18, K Vorren^14,8, B R White⁴, J F Wilkerson^14,8,4, C Wiseman³, E Yakushev⁶, C-H Yu⁴, V Yumatov⁵ and (The Majorana Collaboration)

Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd
Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 606, 2nd Workshop on Germanium Detectors and Technologies 14–17 September 2014, South Dakota, USA Citation W Xu et al 2015 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 606 012004 DOI 10.1088/1742-6596/606/1/012004

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wxu@lanl.gov

Author affiliations

¹ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA

² Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

⁴ Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

⁵ Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow, Russia

⁶ Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia

⁷ Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

⁸ Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Durham, NC, USA

⁹ Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics and Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

¹⁰ Department of Physics, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA

¹¹ South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD, USA

¹² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

¹³ Research Center for Nuclear Physics and Department of Physics, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan

¹⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

¹⁵ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA

¹⁶ Department of Physics, Black Hills State University, Spearfish, SD, USA

¹⁷ Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TN, USA

¹⁸ Alternate Address: Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

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Abstract

Neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay is a hypothesized process where in some even-even nuclei it might be possible for two neutrons to simultaneously decay into two protons and two electrons without emitting neutrinos. This is possible only if neutrinos are Majorana particles, i.e. fermions that are their own antiparticles. Neutrinos being Majorana particles would explicitly violate lepton number conservation, and might play a role in the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay would also provide complementary information related to neutrino masses. The Majorana Collaboration is constructing the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, with a total of 40-kg Germanium detectors, to search for the 0νββ decay of ⁷⁶Ge and to demonstrate a background rate at or below 3 counts/(ROI·t·y) in the 4 keV region of interest (ROI) around the 2039 keV Q-value for ⁷⁶Ge 0νββ decay. In this paper, we discuss the physics of neutrinoless double beta decay and then focus on the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, including its design and approach to achieve ultra-low backgrounds and the status of the experiment.

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