New search for double electron capture in 106Cd decay with the TGV-2 spectrometer

Abstract

A new experiment devoted to searches for double electron capture in 106Cd decay is being performed at the Modane underground laboratory (4800 mwe) with the 32-detector TGV-2 spectrometer. The limit T 1/2(2νEC/EC) > 2.0×1020 yr at a 90%confidence level (C.L.) was obtained from a preliminary analysis of data obtained over 2250 h of measurements with about 23.2 g sample enriched in the isotope 106Cd to 99.57%. The limits T 1/2(KL, 2741 keV) > 0.9 × 1020 yr and T 1/2(KK, 2718 keV) ≫ 1.4 × 1020 yr at a 90% C.L. on the neutrinoless decay of 106Cd were obtained from measurements performed with the Obelix low-background spectrometer from high-purity germanium (HPGe spectrometer) for a sample of mass about 23.2 g enriched in the isotope 106Cd.