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Status of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR: A search for neutrinoless double-beta decay

Journal Article · · International Journal of Modern Physics A
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  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
  2. Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
  3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
  4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
  5. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
  6. Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow, Russia
  7. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia
  8. Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; 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. Research Center for Nuclear Physics and Department of Physics, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan
  13. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA
  14. Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
  15. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
  16. Department of Physics, Black Hills State University, Spearfish, SD, USA
  17. Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, TN, USA
  18. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
  19. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA; Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
+ Show Author Affiliations
If neutrinos are Majorana particles, i.e. fermions that are their own antiparticles, then neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay is possible. In such a process, two neutrons can simultaneously decay into two protons and two electrons without emitting neutrinos. Neutrinos being Majorana particles would explicitly violate lepton number conservation, and might play a role in the matter–antimatter asymmetry in the universe. The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiment is under construction at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD and will search for the neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay of the 76Ge isotope. The goal of the experiment is to demonstrate that it is possible to achieve a sufficiently low background rate in the 4 keV region of interest (ROI) around the 2039 keV Q-value to justify building a tonne-scale experiment. In this study, we discuss the physics and design of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, its approach to achieving ultra-low background and the status of the experiment.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE Office of Science; USDOE
Contributing Organization:
The MAJORANA Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1481711
Journal Information:
International Journal of Modern Physics A, Journal Name: International Journal of Modern Physics A Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 30; ISSN 0217-751X
Publisher:
World ScientificCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (18)

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Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
Majorana
Neutrinoless double beta decay
germanium detector