Related papers: The Majorana Demonstrator
Experiments searching for very rare processes such as neutrinoless double-beta decay require a detailed understanding of all sources of background. Signals from radioactive impurities present in construction and detector materials can be…
The MAJORANA collaboration is constructing the MAJORANA DEMONSTATOR at the Sanford Underground Research Facility at the Homestake gold mine, in Lead, SD. The apparatus will use Ge detectors, enriched in isotope \nuc{76}{Ge}, to demonstrate…
Neutrinoless double beta decay has been the subject of intensive theoretical work as it represents the only practical approach to discovering whether neutrinos are Majorana particles or not, and whether lepton number is a conserved quantum…
Neutrinoless double beta decay, which is a very old and yet elusive process, is reviewed. Its observation will signal that lepton number is not conserved and the neutrinos are Majorana particles. More importantly it is our best hope for…
This paper is the first part of the manuscript written in April 2012 for my academic Accreditation to supervise research. It offers a review of the double beta experimental techniques. My purpose is to detail, for each technique, the…
The MAJORANA collaboration is pursuing the development of the so-called MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR. The DEMONSTRATOR is intended to perform research and development towards a tonne-scale germanium-based experiment to search for the neutrinoless…
The review of current experiments on search and studying of double beta decay processes is done. Results of the most sensitive experiments are discussed and values of modern limits on effective Majorana neutrino mass ($<m_{\nu}>) are given.…
Comprehensive description of the phenomenology of the $\beta\beta$ decay is given, with emphasis on the nuclear physics aspects. After a brief review of the neutrino oscillation results and of motivation to test the lepton number…
The search for neutrinoless double-beta decay is the most sensitive technique to establish the Majorana nature of neutrinos. Two operating experiments that look for such decays in $^{76}$Ge -- GERDA and the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR -- have…
We show that precision measurement of (1) sum of neutrino masses by cosmological observation and (2) lifetime of neutrinoless double beta decay in ton-scale experiments, with supplementary use of (3) effective mass measured in single beta…
A brief sketch is given of the present observational status and future prospects of the physics of neutrino mass, including a survey of the various theoretical schemes of neutrino mass generation. Emphasis is given to those which are…
The search for neutrinoless double beta decay has internationally been recognized as the most promising approach to determine the Majorana nature of neutrinos. This hypothesized decay would, if observed, violate lepton number in weak…
Building a \BBz experiment with the ability to probe neutrino mass in the inverted hierarchy region requires the combination of a large detector mass sensitive to \BBz, on the order of 1-tonne, and unprecedented background levels, on the…
The Majorana Collaboration is constructing a system containing 40 kg of HPGe detectors to demonstrate the feasibility and potential of a future tonne-scale experiment capable of probing the neutrino mass scale in the inverted-hierarchy…
We present a study of the sensitivity and discovery potential of CUORE, a bolometric double-beta decay experiment under construction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. Two approaches to the computation of experimental…
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR recently concluded its search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. The experiment operated an array of up to 40.4 kg of germanium detectors, 27 kg of which were isotopically enriched in 76Ge and housed inside a…
The search for neutrino-less double-beta decay has been a very active field of research in the last decade. Neutrino-less double-beta decay may answer essential open questions in neutrino physics. While double-beta decay accompanied by the…
Of the many extensions to the standard model that could possibly generate neutrino mass, most necessitate the neutrino being a Majorana fermion. If this is the case, the rare process of neutrinoless double beta decay is predicted with half…
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is an array of point-contact Ge detectors fabricated from Ge isotopically enriched to 88% in Ge-76 to search for neutrinoless double beta decay. The processing of Ge for germanium detectors is a well-known…
P-type point contact (PPC) high-purity germanium detectors are an important technology in astroparticle and nuclear physics due to their superb energy resolution, low noise, and pulse shape discrimination capabilities. Analysis of data from…