First Results on the Search for Lepton Number Violating Neutrinoless Double-𝛽 Decay with the LEGEND-200 Experiment
The LEGEND Collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double-beta (0𝜈𝛽𝛽) decay by operating high-purity germanium detectors enriched in 76 Ge in a low-background liquid argon environment. Building on key technological innovations from the GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment and the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiment, LEGEND-200 has performed a first 0𝜈𝛽𝛽 decay search based on 61.0 kg yr of data. Over half of this exposure comes from our highest performing detectors, including newly developed inverted-coaxial detectors, and is characterized by an estimated background level of 0.5$^{+0.3}_{−0.2}$ cts/(keV ton yr) in the 0𝜈𝛽𝛽 decay signal region. A combined analysis of data from GERDA, the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, and LEGEND-200, characterized by a 90% confidence level exclusion sensitivity of 2.8 ×10 26 yr on the half-life of 0𝜈𝛽𝛽 decay, reveals no evidence for a signal and sets a new observed lower limit at 𝑇$^{0𝜈}_{1/2}$ > 1.9 × 10 26 yr (90% confidence level). Assuming the decay is mediated by Majorana neutrinos, this corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 𝑚 𝛽𝛽 < 75–200 meV, depending on the adopted nuclear matrix element.