Microbulk MicrOMEGAs for the search of 0νββ of 136Xe in the PandaX-III experiment

Abstract

The search for the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) is one of the most important quests nowadays in neutrino physics. Among the different techniques used, high pressure xenon (HPXe) gas time projection chambers (TPC) stand out because they allow to image the topology of the 0νββ event (one straggling track ending in two blobs), and use it to discriminate signal from background events. Recent results with microbulk Micromegas in Xe + trimethylamine (TMA) mixtures show high promise in terms of gain, stability of operation, and energy resolution at high pressures (up to 10 bar). The addition of TMA at levels of 1% reduces electron diffusion in up to a factor of 10 with respect pure Xe, improving the quality of the topological pattern, and therefore the discrimination capability. Moreover microbulk Micromegas have very low levels of intrinsic radioactivity. All these results show that a Micromegas-read High Pressure Xenon TPC (HPXe-TPC) can be a competitive technique in the search for 0νββ. The recently proposed PandaX-III experiment, based on these results, aims at building a large TPC of 200 kg of enriched Xe, to be located at Jinping Underground laboratory in China. In this document the main features of the experiment will be presented, with an emphasis on the design and tests of the microbulk readout, as well as the status of the project and first results of the prototyping phase.