Related papers: Background reduction and sensitivity for germanium…
Dark matter plays a crucial role in our comprehension of the universe, but its mysterious nature poses challenges for direct detection. A primary obstacle in detecting dark matter is distinguishing genuine signals from the prevailing…
Double beta decay is indispensable to solve the question of the neutrino mass matrix together with neutrino oscillation experiments. The most sensitive experiment since eight years - the Heidelberg-Moscow experiment in Gran-Sasso - already…
The ability to detect liquid argon scintillation light from within a densely packed high-purity germanium detector array allowed the GERDA experiment to reach an exceptionally low background rate in the search for neutrinoless double beta…
A search for full energy depositions from bosonic keV-scale dark matter candidates of masses between 65 keV and 1021 keV has been performed with data collected during Phase II of the GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment. Our analysis…
An extremely low-background environment is a crucial requirement for any neutrinoless double beta decay experiment. Neutrons are very difficult to stop, because they can pass through the shields and activate nuclei in the detector, even…
High Purity germanium point-contact detectors have low energy thresholds and excellent energy resolution over a wide energy range, and are thus widely used in nuclear and particle physics. In rare event searches, such as neutrinoless double…
Geoneutrinos can provide a unique insight into Earth's interior, its central engine and its formation history. We study the detection of geoneutrinos in large direct detection experiments, which has been considered non-feasible. We compute…
The results of the HEIDELBERG-MOSCOW experiment which searches with 11 kg of enriched 76Ge for double beta decay in the GRAN Sasso underground laboratory are presented for the full running period August 1990 - May 2003. The duty cycle of…
The GERDA (GERmanium Detector Array) experiment aiming to search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of 76Ge at the Laboratori Nazionali Del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Italy, will operate bare enriched high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors in…
Next-generation neutrinoless double beta decay experiments aim for half-life sensitivities of ~$10^{27}$ yr, requiring suppressing backgrounds to <1 count/tonne/yr. For this, any extra background rejection handle, beyond excellent energy…
We investigate the possibility of producing neutrinoless double beta decay without having an electron neutrino with a mass in the vicinity of 1 eV. We do so by having a much lighter electron neutrino mix with a much heavier (m > 1 GeV)…
Possibilities of discriminating neutrons and gamma rays in the AGATA gamma-ray tracking spectrometer have been investigated with the aim of reducing the background due to inelastic scattering of neutrons in the high-purity germanium…
Neutrinoless double beta decay searches play a major role in determining neutrino properties, in particular the Majorana or Dirac nature of the neutrino and the absolute scale of the neutrino mass. The consequences of these searches go…
Thermal neutron detector based on films of $^{10}$B$_4$C have been developed as an alternative to $^3$He detectors. In particular, The Multi-Grid detector concept is considered for future large area detectors for ESS and ILL instruments. An…
Neutrinoless double-beta decay (0$\nu\beta\beta$) decay is a hypothetical process that violates lepton number, and whose observation would unambiguously indicate that neutrinos are Majorana fermions. In the standard inverted-ordering…
The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay would resolve the Majorana nature of the neutrino and could provide information on the absolute scale of the neutrino mass. The initial phase of the Majorana experiment, known as the…
We report the fabrication and performance of an annular, cryogenic, phonon-mediated veto detector that can host an inner target detector, allowing substantial reduction in radiogenic backgrounds for rare event search experiments. A…
Studies of charged-particle reactions for low-energy nuclear astrophysics require high sensitivity, which can be achieved by means of detection setups with high efficiency and low backgrounds, to obtain precise measurements in the energy…
Motivated by recent intensive experimental efforts on searching for neutrinoless double-beta decays, we perform a detailed analysis of the physics potential of the experiments based on $^{76}\mathrm{Ge}$. Assuming no signals, current and…
Bolometric detectors are excellent devices for the investigation of neutrinoless double-beta decay (0$\nu\beta\beta$). The observation of such decay would demonstrate the violation of lepton number, and at the same time it would necessarily…