arXiv subjects

Carla Macolino

Publications and source records attributed to Carla Macolino.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

GEMINI: The First Underground Testbed for Seismic Isolation and Interplatform Control in Next-Generation Gravitational-Wave Detectors

GEMINI is an underground research and development facility dedicated to advancing seismic isolation and control technologies for future gravitational-wave observatories, including the Einstein Telescope (ET) and the Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna (LGWA). This paper presents the technical design and theoretical framework of GEMINI's active seismic isolation platforms, including detailed noise budget analyses, performance predictions, and residual platform motion evaluations. The GEMINI platforms are designed to achieve unprecedented vibration isolation, targeting motion suppression across the 10 mHz to 10 Hz frequency band, and with the goal to make them the quietest platforms of their kind. In the context of ET, GEMINI will enable the development and validation of inter-platform control strategies essential for the stabilization of auxiliary degrees of freedom of its interferometers. GEMINI will also support the testing of cryogenic payloads and ultra-sensitive inertial sensors required for LGWA. By integrating advanced cryogenic systems, precision inertial sensors, and state-of-the-art vibration isolation technologies, GEMINI will serve as a versatile testbed for next-generation ground-based gravitational-wave detectors and lunar seismometry missions.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Modeling of GERDA Phase II data

The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) of INFN is searching for neutrinoless double-beta ($0νββ$) decay of $^{76}$Ge. The technological challenge of GERDA is to operate in a "background-free" regime in the region of interest (ROI) after analysis cuts for the full 100$\,$kg$\cdot$yr target exposure of the experiment. A careful modeling and decomposition of the full-range energy spectrum is essential to predict the shape and composition of events in the ROI around $Q_{ββ}$ for the $0νββ$ search, to extract a precise measurement of the half-life of the double-beta decay mode with neutrinos ($2νββ$) and in order to identify the location of residual impurities. The latter will permit future experiments to build strategies in order to further lower the background and achieve even better sensitivities. In this article the background decomposition prior to analysis cuts is presented for GERDA Phase II. The background model fit yields a flat spectrum in the ROI with a background index (BI) of $16.04^{+0.78}_{-0.85} \cdot 10^{-3}\,$cts/(kg$\cdot$keV$\cdot$yr) for the enriched BEGe data set and $14.68^{+0.47}_{-0.52} \cdot 10^{-3}\,$cts/(kg$\cdot$keV$\cdot$yr) for the enriched coaxial data set. These values are similar to the one of Gerda Phase I despite a much larger number of detectors and hence radioactive hardware components.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2013

Results on neutrinoless double beta decay from GERDA Phase I

The GERmanium Detector Array, GERDA, is designed to search for neutrinoless double beta (0$νββ$) decay of $^{76}$Ge and it is installed in the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of INFN, Italy. In this review, the detection principle and detector setup of GERDA are described. Also, the main physics results by GERDA Phase I, are discussed. They include the measurement of the half-life of 2$νββ$ decay, the background decomposition of the energy spectrum and the techniques for the discrimination of the background, based on the pulse shape of the signal. In the last part of this paper, the estimation of a limit on the half-life of 0$νββ$ ($T^{0ν}_{1/2} >2.1\cdot 10^{25}$ yr at 90% C.L.) and the comparison with previous results are discussed. GERDA data from Phase I strongly disfavour the recent claim of 0$νββ$ discovery, based on data from the Heidelberg-Moscow experiment.

hep-ex↗