Final report on the search for neutrinoless double-. beta. decay of sup 76 Ge from the Gotthard underground experiment

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.45.2548· OSTI ID:7301682

Reusser, D; Treichel, M; Boehm, F; Fisher, P; Gabathuler, K; Henrikson, H E; Joergens, V; Mitchell, L W; Nussbaum, C; Vuilleumier, J ^[1]

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1. Institut de Physique, Universite de Neuchatel, A.-L. Breguet 1, CH-2000 Neuchatel (Switzerland) California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States) Paul Scherrer Institute, CH-5232 Villigen PSI (Switzerland)

We report here on the final results of a search for {sup 76}Ge double-{beta} decay conducted in the Gotthard underground laboratory. The detector consists of an array of eight high-purity natural germanium crystals totaling 1095 cm{sup 3} fiducial volume. The accumulated data set represents a sensitivity of 10.0 kg yr. No indication of neutrinoless double-{beta} decay was found. The measured half-life limits are {ital T}{sub 1/2}(0{sup +}{r arrow}0{sup +}){gt}6.0(3.3){times}10{sup 23} yr for the transition to the ground state and {ital T}{sub 1/2}(0{sup +}{r arrow}2{sup +}){gt}1.4(0.65){times}10{sup 23} yr for the transition to the first excited state at 68% (90%) C.L. From these results we derive an upper limit for the Majorana mass of the neutrino in the range of 1.8 to 6.7 eV depending on matrix-element calculations. The same results allow limits to be set for the right-handed-current parameters: {l angle}{lambda}{r angle}{lt}3.6{times}10{sup {minus}6} and {l angle}{eta}{r angle}{lt}2.2{times}10{sup {minus}8}.

• OSTI ID: 7301682
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States) Vol. 45:7; ISSN PRVDA; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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BETA DECAY
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
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