Mitigation Strategies for ${}^{42}$Ar/${}^{42}$K Background Reduction using Encapsulation with Ultra-Pure Plastic for the LEGEND Experiment

M. Ibrahim Mirza

doi:10.1063/5.0161061

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arXiv · 2209.07598

Mitigation Strategies for ${}^{42}$Ar/${}^{42}$K Background Reduction using Encapsulation with Ultra-Pure Plastic for the LEGEND Experiment

M. Ibrahim Mirza

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Abstract

Neutrinoless double-beta (0$\nu\beta\beta$) decay is the most compelling approach to determine the Majorana nature of neutrino and measure effective Majorana neutrino mass. The LEGEND collaboration is aiming to look for 0$\nu\beta\beta$ decay of ${}^{76}$Ge with unprecedented sensitivity. If underground-sourced argon is not available, the cosmogenically-induced isotope ${}^{42}$Ar and its decay progeny ${}^{42}$K in the liquid argon active veto could create a challenging background for the 0$\nu\beta\beta$ signal. We are studying methodologies to mitigate the ${}^{42}$K background. In order to achieve this, encapsulation of germanium detectors with 3D-printed technologies using low background material are currently under investigation. Simulation results of Poly(ethylene 2,6- naphthalate) (PEN) encapsulation of germanium detectors and plans to study other potential materials are presented.

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M. Ibrahim Mirza. 2022-09-15. Mitigation Strategies for ${}^{42}$Ar/${}^{42}$K Background Reduction using Encapsulation with Ultra-Pure Plastic for the LEGEND Experiment. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0161061

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