Searching for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay of130Te with CUORE

D R Artusa,M Sisti,M Martinez,M Clemenza,S Trentalange,K M Heeger,M M Deninno,Y Mei,F T Avignone,L Canonica,L Wielgus,A Bersani,A Nucciotti,L Pattavina,J L Ouellet,F Orio,C Pira,T Wise,C Zarra,G Fernandes,M Pedretti,E Previtali,S Copello,S Morganti,T D Gutierrez,S J Freedman,C Rusconi,S Nisi,D Orlandi,G Ventura,B K Fujikawa,A R Smith,L Zanotti,C Maiano,L Carbone,C Tomei,N Chott,X Liu,W D Tian,C Gotti,Yu G Kolomensky,F Ferroni,L Gironi,M Carrettoni,S Di Domizio,V Datskov,F Terranova,L A Winslow,N D Scielzo,M Balata,G Bari,H W Wang,V Palmieri,K Han,C Nones,L Ejzak,V Rampazzo,A Giuliani,R J Creswick,C Brofferio,F Bellini,N Moggi,C Cosmelli,J Goett,M Faverzani,S Sangiorgio,G Pessina,E Fiorini,O Cremonesi,E Ferri,C Rosenfeld,X G Cao,G Piperno,T Napolitano,P Gorla,I Dafinei,M Pavan,A Giachero,S Pirro,A Dally,L Cardani,M L Di Vacri,H Z Huang,M Pallavicini,D Chiesa,O Azzolini,S Zucchelli,B X Zhu,Y L Li,A Camacho,G Keppel,M Tenconi,C Ligi,M Biassoni,E B Norman,S Capelli,V Pettinacci,N Casali,B S Wang,C Bucci,T O’Donnell,A De Biasi,A Woodcraft,M Maino,L Taffarello,K Kazkaz,M Vignati,R Maruyama ,J W Beeman ,Deqing Fang ,J R Wilson ,Thomas Banks ,Horácio A Farach ,A Franceschi ,Y G ,R Hennings‐Yeomans ,E E Häller ,R W Kadel ,Cai Xiang-Zhou ,Elena Sala

doi:10.1155/2015/879871

Abstract

Neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay is a hypothesized lepton-number-violating process that offers the only known means of asserting the possible Majorana nature of neutrino mass. The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is an upcoming experiment designed to search for 0νββdecay of130Te using an array of 988 TeO2crystal bolometers operated at 10 mK. The detector will contain 206 kg of130Te and have an average energy resolution of 5 keV; the projected 0νββdecay half-life sensitivity after five years of livetime is 1.6 × 1026 y at 1σ(9.5 × 1025 y at the 90% confidence level), which corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range 40–100 meV (50–130 meV). In this paper, we review the experimental techniques used in CUORE as well as its current status and anticipated physics reach.

Highlights

The discovery of neutrino oscillations revealed that neutrinos are massive particles and thereby provided the first evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model
We review the design, status, and physics outlook for Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE)
We evaluate the overall detector energy resolution in the noncalibration data to be 5.7 keV, based on the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the 2615 keV peak in the energy spectrum created by summing the data for all active channels

Summary

Introduction

The discovery of neutrino oscillations revealed that neutrinos are massive particles and thereby provided the first evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model (cf. [1, 2]). This development resolved some longstanding mysteries but it raised new questions about the fundamental nature of neutrinos: namely, What is the absolute mass scale of the neutrino? Neutrinoless double-beta (0]ββ) decay has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years because of its unique potential to provide insight into the above issues.

Bolometric Technique

CUORE Prototype

CUORE Status

40 K 4K 600 mK

Findings

Conclusion and Outlook