Measurement of 216Po half-life with the CUPID-0 experiment
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Beeman, J. W..
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The past few decades have seen major developments in the design and operation of cryogenic particle detectors. This technology offers an extremely good energy resolution – comparable to semiconductor detectors – and a wide choice of target materials, making low temperature calorimetric detectors ideal for a variety of particle physics applications. Rare event searches have continued to require ever greater exposures, which has driven them to ever larger cryogenic detectors, with the CUORE experiment being the first to reach a tonne-scale, mK-cooled, experimental mass. CUORE, designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay, has been operational since 2017 at a temperature of about 10 mK. This result has been attained by the use of an unprecedentedly large cryogenic infrastructure called the CUORE cryostat: conceived, designed and commissioned for this purpose. In this article the main characteristics and features of the cryogenic facility developed for the CUORE experiment are highlighted. In this work, a brief introduction of the evolution of the field and of the past cryogenic facilities are given. The motivation behind the design and development of the CUORE cryogenic facility is detailed as are the steps taken toward realization, commissioning, and operation of the CUORE cryostat. The major challenges overcome by the collaboration and the solutions implemented throughout the building of the cryogenic facility will be discussed along with the potential improvements for future facilities. The success of CUORE has opened the door to a new generation of large-scale cryogenic facilities in numerous fields of science. Broader implications of the incredible feat achieved by the CUORE collaboration on the future cryogenic facilities in various fields ranging from neutrino and dark matter experiments to quantum computing will be examined.
Localization and modeling of radioactive contaminations is a challenge that ultra-low background experiments are constantly facing. These are fundamental steps both to extract scientific results and to further reduce the background of the detectors. Here we present an innovative technique based on the analysis of $\alpha -\alpha$ delayed coincidences in 232 Th and 238 U decay chains, developed to investigate the contaminations of the ZnSe crystals in the CUPID-0 experiment. This method allows to disentangle surface and bulk contaminations of the detectors relying on the different probability to tag delayed coincidences as function of the $\alpha$ decay position.
We report on a search for double beta decay of 130 Te to the first 0 + excited state of 130 Xe using a 9.8kg·yr exposure of 130 Te collected with the CUORE-0 experiment. In this work we exploit different topologies of coincident events to search for both the neutrinoless and two-neutrino double beta decay modes. We find no evidence for either mode and place lower bounds on the half-lives: $T_{0_1^+}^{0ν}$ > 7.9·10 23 yr and $T_{0_1^+}^{2ν}$ > 2.4·10 23 yr (90%CL). Combining our results with those obtained by the CUORICINO experiment, we achieve the most stringent constraints available for these processes: $T_{0_1^+}^{0ν}$ > 1.4·10 24 yr and $T_{0_1^+}^{2ν}$ > 2.5·10 23 yr (90%CL).
The CUPID-0 detector hosted at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy, is the first large array of enriched scintillating cryogenic detectors for the investigation of 82 Se neutrinoless double-beta decay (0$\nu \beta \beta$). CUPID0 aims at measuring a background index in the region of interest (RoI) for 0$\nu \beta \beta$ at the level of 10 -3 counts/(keV kg years), the lowest value ever measured using cryogenic detectors. CUPID-0 operates an array of Zn 82 Se scintillating bolometers coupled with bolometric light detectors, with a state of the art technology for background suppression and thorough protocols and procedures for the detector preparation and construction. In this paper, the different phases of the detector design and construction will be presented, from the material selection (for the absorber production) to the new and innovative detector structure. The successful construction of the detector lead to promising preliminary detector performance which is discussed here.
The CUORE experiment, a ton-scale cryogenic bolometer array, recently began operation at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. The array represents a significant advancement in this technology, and in this work we apply it for the first time to a high-sensitivity search for a lepton-numberviolating process: 130 Te neutrinoless double-beta decay. Examining a total TeO 2 exposure of 86.3 kg yr, characterized by an effective energy resolution of d7.7 ± 0.5T keV FWHM and a background in the region of interest of d0.014 ± 0.002T counts=dkeV kg yrT, we find no evidence for neutrinoless double-beta decay. Including systematic uncertainties, we place a lower limit on the decay half-life of T 0ν 1/2 ( 130 Te) > 1.3 × 10 25 yr (90% C.L.); the median statistical sensitivity of this search is 7.0 × 10 24 yr. Combining this result with those of two earlier experiments, Cuoricino and CUORE-0, we find T 0ν 1/2 ( 130 Te) > 1.5 × 10 25 yr (90% C.L.), which is the most stringent limit to date on this decay. Interpreting this result as a limit on the effective Majorana neutrino mass, we find m ββ < (110 - 520) meV, where the range reflects the nuclear matrix element estimates employed.
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Here, we present here an innovative cryogenic light detector capable to measure a few tens of eV signal thanks to the amplification assisted by the Neganov-Luke effect. The thermal signal boost in the presence of an electric field allows us to improve the signal-to-noise ratio reaching a baseline noise of around 20 eV. This device - coupled to an enriched 130TeO 2 bolometer (435 g) - registered 160 eV Cherenkov light signal induced by 2615 keV 208 Tl with a signal to noise ratio about 6:1. Since α particles emitted in decays of natural radionuclides do not produce the Cherenkov radiation, we were then able to achieve an efficient α/γ separation in the region of interest for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130 Te (Q-value is 2527 keV). Specifically, a rejection factor of 99.9% for α particles was obtained with a 98.3% acceptance of β/γ events. The achieved α rejection efficiency is required to reduce the dominant α background in the follow-up of the CUORE experiment (CUPID), a ton-scale bolometric search with particle identification.
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The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is a large-scale double beta decay experiment utilizing cryogenic bolometers that is currently being commissioned at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) in Italy. Its primary focus is to search for the neutrino-less double beta decay of 130Te with a projected sensitivity to Majorana neutrino masses near the inverted mass hierarchy region. The detector is composed of 988 5x5x5-cm 3 TeO 2 crystals of natural isotopic composition arranged in 19 towers of 52 crystals each, all housed in a common dilution refrigerator. A single CUORE-like tower, CUORE-0, was assembled and operated as a stand-alone detector for a period of approximately two years. In this report, the results from CUORE-0 and the current status and physics potential of CUORE are presented.
The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is a large-scale double beta decay experiment utilizing cryogenic bolometers that is currently being commissioned at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) in Italy. Its primary focus is to search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te with a projected sensitivity to Majorana neutrino masses near the inverted mass hierarchy region. The detector is composed of 988 5x5x5-cm 3 TeO 2 crystals of natural isotopic composition arranged in 19 towers of 52 crystals each, all housed in a common dilution refrigerator. A single CUORE-like tower, CUORE-0, was assembled and operated as a stand-alone detector for a period of approximately two years. In this report, the results from CUORE-0 and the current status and physics potential of CUORE are presented.
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CUORE is a cryogenic detector that will be operated at LNGS to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) of 130 Te. The detector installation was completed in summer 2016. Before the installation, several cold runs were done to test the cryogenic system performance. In the last cold run the base temperature of 6.3 mK was reached in stable condition. CUORE-0, a CUORE prototype, has proven the feasibility of CUORE, demonstrating that the target background of 0.01 counts/keV/kg/y and the energy resolution of 5 keV are within reach.
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The CUORE experiment will search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 130 Te with an array of 988 TeO 2 bolometers arranged in 19 towers. CUORE-0, the first tower assembled according to the CUORE procedures, was built and commissioned at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, and took data from March 2013 to March 2015. In this study we describe the design, construction and operation of the CUORE-0 experiment, with an emphasis on the improvements made over a predecessor experiment, Cuoricino. Finally, in particular, we demonstrate with CUORE-0 data that the design goals of CUORE are within reach.
The R&D activity performed during the last years proved the potential of ZnSe scintillating bolometers to the search for neutrino-less double beta decay, motivating the realization of the first large-mass experiment based on this technology: CUPID-0. The isotopic enrichment in 82 Se, the Zn 82 Se crystals growth, as well as the light detectors production have been accomplished, and the experiment is now in construction at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Italy). In this paper we present the results obtained testing the first three Zn 82 Se crystals operated as scintillating bolometers, and we prove that their performance in terms of energy resolution, background rejection capability and intrinsic radio-purity complies with the requirements of CUPID-o.
The CUORE-0 experiment searched for neutrinoless double beta decay in 130 Te using an array of 52 tellurium dioxide crystals, operated as bolometers at a temperature of 10 mK. It took data in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (Italy) since March 2013 to March 2015. We present the results of a search for neutrinoless double beta decay in 9.8 kg-years 130 Te exposure that allowed us to set the most stringent limit to date on this half-life. The performance of the detector in terms of background and energy resolution is also reported.