Particle and nuclear physics parameters—how do they affect the tracks of double beta events in a germanium detector, and their separation from gamma events

Abstract

The sizes of tracks of events of neutrinoless double beta decay in a germanium detector depend on particle physics and nuclear physics parameters such as neutrino mass, right-handed current parameters, etc., and nuclear matrix elements. The knowledge of this dependence is of importance, since the key to probe the existence of 0νββ decay beyond observation of a signal at the Q value of the process, Qββ, is the discrimination of ββ events from background γ events (or other events), in almost any double beta decay experiment (see [H.V. Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, I.V. Krivosheina, A. Dietz, et al., Phys. Lett. B 586 (2004) 198; H.V. Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, A. Dietz, I.V. Krivosheina, et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 522 (2004) 371]). In this Letter for the first time Monte Carlo simulations of neutrino-accompanied (2νββ) and neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) events, and of various kinds of background processes such as multiple and other γ interactions are reported for a Ge detector. The time history of the evolution of the individual events is followed and a systematic study has been performed of the sizes of the events (volumes in the detector inside which the energy of the event is released which determine the observed signals). Effects of the angular correlations of the two electrons in ββ decay, which again depend on the above nuclear and (for 0νββ decay) particle physics parameters, are taken into account and have been calculated for this purpose for 76Ge for the first time on basis of the experimental half-life and of realistic nuclear matrix elements. A brief outlook is given on the potential of future experiments with respect to determination of the particle physics parameters 〈mν〉, 〈λ〉, 〈η〉.