Analysis techniques for background rejection at the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR

Journal Article · Mon Aug 17 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4928022· OSTI ID:22488736

Cuesta, C.; Buuck, M.; Detwiler, J. A.; Gruszko, J.; Guinn, I. S.; Leon, J.; Robertson, R. G. H. ^[1]; Abgrall, N.; Bradley, A. W.; Chan, Y-D.; Mertens, S.; Poon, A. W. P. ^[2]; Arnquist, I. J.; Hoppe, E. W.; Kouzes, R. T.; LaFerriere, B. D.; Orrell, J. L. ^[3]; Avignone, F. T. ^[4]; Baldenegro-Barrera, C. X.; Bertrand, F. E. ^[5] ; others, and

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1. Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, and Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
2. Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States)
3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA (United States)
4. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (United States)
5. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The MAJORANA Collaboration is constructing the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, an ultra-low background, 40- kg modular HPGe detector array to search for neutrinoless double beta decay in {sup 76}Ge. In view of the next generation of tonne-scale Ge-based 0νβ β-decay searches that will probe the neutrino mass scale in the inverted-hierarchy region, a major goal of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is to demonstrate a path forward to achieving a background rate at or below 1 count/tonne/year in the 4 keV region of interest around the Q-value at 2039 keV. The background rejection techniques to be applied to the data include cuts based on data reduction, pulse shape analysis, event coincidences, and time correlations. The Point Contact design of the DEMONSTRATOR’s germanium detectors allows for significant reduction of gamma background.

• OSTI ID: 22488736
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1672, Issue 1; Conference: LRT 2015: 5. international workshop in low radioactivity techniques, Seattle, WA (United States), 18-20 Mar 2015; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CORRELATIONS
DESIGN
DOUBLE BETA DECAY
GERMANIUM 76
HIGH-PURITY GE DETECTORS
KEV RANGE
NEUTRINOS
PROBES
PULSE SHAPERS
Q-VALUE