Search for 2νββ decay of Xe136 to the 01+ excited state of Ba136 with the EXO-200 liquid xenon detector

Albert, J. B.; Auty, D. J.; Barbeau, P. S.; Beck, D.; Belov, V.; Breidenbach, M.; Brunner, T.; Burenkov, A.; Cao, G. F.; Chambers, C.; Chaves, J.; Cleveland, B.; Coon, M.; Craycraft, A.; Daniels, T.; Danilov, M.; Daugherty, S. J.; Davis, J.; Delaquis, S.; Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A.; DeVoe, R.; Didberidze, T.; Dilling, J.; Dolgolenko, A.; Dolinski, M. J.; Dunford, M.; Fairbank, W.; Farine, J.; Feldmeier, W.; Feyzbakhsh, S.; Fierlinger, P.; Fudenberg, D.; Gornea, R.; Graham, K.; Gratta, G.; Hall, C.; Hughes, M.; Jewell, M. J.; Johnson, A.; Johnson, T. N.; Johnston, S.; Karelin, A.; Kaufman, L. J.; Killick, R.; King, J.; Koffas, T.; Kravitz, S.; Krücken, R.; Kuchenkov, A.; Kumar, K. S.; Leonard, D. S.; Licciardi, C.; Lin, Y. H.; Ling, J.; MacLellan, R.; Marino, M. G.; Mong, B.; Moore, D.; Njoya, O.; Nelson, R.; Odian, A.; Ostrovskiy, I.; Piepke, A.; Pocar, A.; Prescott, C. Y.; Retière, F.; Rowson, P. C.; Russell, J. J.; Schubert, A.; Sinclair, D.; Smith, E.; Stekhanov, V.; Tarka, M.; Tolba, T.; Tsang, R.; Twelker, K.; Vogel, P.; Vuilleumier, J. -L.; Waite, A.; Walton, J.; Walton, T.; Weber, M.; Wen, L. J.; Wichoski, U.; Winick, T. A.; Wood, J.; Xu, Q. Y.; Yang, L.; Yen, Y. -R.; Zeldovich, O. Ya.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.93.035501

Title: Search for $2 ν β β$ decay of ${}^{136}{Xe}$ to the $0_{1}^{+}$ excited state of ${}^{136}{Ba}$ with the EXO-200 liquid xenon detector

Journal Article · Tue Mar 08 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Physical Review C

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.93.035501· OSTI ID:1261078

Albert, J. B.; Auty, D. J.; Barbeau, P. S.; Beck, D.; Belov, V.; Breidenbach, M.; Brunner, T.; Burenkov, A.; Cao, G. F.; Chambers, C.; Chaves, J.; Cleveland, B.; Coon, M.; Craycraft, A.; Daniels, T.; Danilov, M.; Daugherty, S. J.; Davis, J.; Delaquis, S.; Der Mesrobian-Kabakian, A. more »

EXO-200 is a single phase liquid xenon detector designed to search for neutrinoless ββ decay of ¹³⁶Xe to the ground state of ¹³⁶Ba. We report here on a search for the two-neutrino ββ decay of ¹³⁶Xe to the first 0⁺ excited state, 0⁺₁, of Ba136 based on a 100 kg yr exposure of ¹³⁶Xe. Using a specialized analysis employing a machine learning algorithm, we obtain a 90% CL half-life sensitivity of 1.7×10²⁴ yr. We find no statistically significant evidence for the 2νββ decay to the excited state resulting in a lower limit of T^2ν_1/2 (0⁺ → 0⁺₁) > 6.9 ×10²³ yr at 90% CL. In conclusion, this observed limit is consistent with the estimated half-life of 2.5×10²⁵ yr.

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Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)

Contributing Organization:: EXO-200 Collaboration

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1261078

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1242579

Report Number(s):: SLAC-PUB-16596; PRVCAN; arXiv:1511.04770

Journal Information:: Physical Review C, Vol. 93, Issue 3; ISSN 2469-9985

Publisher:: APSCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 12 works

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