Ultralow-background study of neutrinoless double. beta. decay of /sup 76/Ge; new limit on the Majorana mass of. nu. /sub e/

Journal Article · Mon May 27 04:00:00 EDT 1985 · Phys. Rev. Lett.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.2309· OSTI ID:5599006

Brodzinski, R L; Brown, D P; Evans, Jr, J C; Hensley, W K; Miley, H S; Reeves, J H; Wogman, N A

A lower limit of 1.16 x 10/sup 23/ yr (1sigma) is reported for the half-life of no-neutrino ..beta../sup -/..beta../sup -/ decay of /sup 76/Ge which results from 3763 h of counting with an ultralow-background, 135-cm/sup 3/ prototype detector located 1438 m underground. A limit of 1.7 x 10/sup 23/ yr (1sigma) results from the best combination of our data with that from other experiments. Straightforward application of shell-model matrix elements to this limit implies that <3.2 eV (1sigma).

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352 and University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208 XPNL-USC Collaboration)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5599006
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. Lett.; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. Lett.; (United States) Vol. 54:21; ISSN PRLTA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
BETA DECAY
BETA-MINUS DECAY
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
CHIRAL SYMMETRY
CONTROL EQUIPMENT
CRYOSTATS
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ELECTRON NEUTRINOS
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GAMMA RADIATION
GERMANIUM 76
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GRAND UNIFIED THEORY
HALF-LIFE
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
IONIZING RADIATIONS
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LEPTONS
LIMITING VALUES
MASS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATRIX ELEMENTS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
NEUTRINOS
NUCLEAR MODELS
NUCLEI
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SYMMETRY
SYMMETRY BREAKING
THERMOSTATS
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES