arXiv · 1711.05801
Progress Toward A $2νββ$ Measurement For The Majorana Demonstrator
Abstract
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is a $^{76}$Ge-based neutrinoless double-beta decay ($0νββ$) experiment. Staged at the 4850 ft level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility, the DEMONSTRATOR operates an array of high-purity p-type point contact Ge detectors deployed within a graded passive shield and an active muon veto system. The present work concerns the two-neutrino double-beta decay mode ($2νββ$) of $^{76}$Ge. For Ge detectors, having superior energy resolution (0.1%), this mode poses negligible background to the $0νββ$ mode, even for a ton-scale experiment. However, the measurement of the $2νββ$ mode allows for careful systematics checks of active detector mass, enrichment fraction, and pulse shape discrimination cuts related to both the $0νββ$ and $2νββ$ decay modes. A precision measurement of the $2νββ$ shape also allows searches for spectral distortions, possibly indicative of new physics, including $0νββχ$. Work is underway to construct a full experimental background model enabling a Bayesian fit to the measured energy spectrum and extraction of a precise $2νββ$ spectrum and half-life.
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T Gilliss, N Abgrall, S I Alvis, I J Arnquist, F T Avignone III, A S Barabash, C J Barton, F E Bertrand, T Bode, A W Bradley, V Brudanin, M Busch, M Buuck, T S Caldwell, Y-D Chan, C D Christofferson, P -H Chu, C Cuesta, J A Detwiler, C Dunagan, Yu Efremenko, H Ejiri, S R Elliott, G K Giovanetti, M P Green, J Gruszko, I S Guinn, V E Guiseppe, C R Haufe, L Hehn, R Henning, E W Hoppe, M A Howe, K J Keeter, M F Kidd, S I Konovalov, R T Kouzes, A M Lopez, R D Martin, R Massarczyk, S J Meijer, S Mertens, J Myslik, C O'Shaughnessy, G Othman, W Pettus, A W P Poon, D C Radford, J Rager, A L Reine, K Rielage, R G H Robertson, N W Ruof, B Shanks, M Shirchenko, A M Suriano, D Tedeschi, J E Trimble, R L Varner, S Vasilyev, K Vetter, K Vorren, B R White, J F Wilkerson, C Wiseman, W Xu, E Yakushev, C -H Yu, V Yumatov, I Zhitnikov, B X Zhu. 2017-11-20. Progress Toward A $2νββ$ Measurement For The Majorana Demonstrator. https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.05801
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