Abstract
The goal of the NEXT experiment is the observation of the neutrinoless double beta decay in 136Xe using a gaseous xenon TPC with electroluminescent amplification and specialized photodetector arrays for calorimetry and tracking. After a prototyping period (2009-2014) where the technique was demonstrated, the Collaboration has completed the construction and started the operation of its first phase (NEXT-White or NEW) in the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc, in the Spanish Pyrenees, with the objectives of measuring in-situ the NEXT background model and the two-neutrino mode of the double beta decay under a radiopure regime. After running NEW, the Collaboration will operate a bigger detector, NEXT-100, which will look for the neutrinoless decay mode.
Highlights
In the previous chapter we concluded that the di cult challenge of exploring the neutrino-mass region corresponding to the inverse hierarchy requires experiments that can be extrapolated to large masses of ββ emitter, in the range of a few tonnes, while keeping the background rate as low as possible, typically well below count keV− tonne− year−
which implies that neutrinos are massive particles
prompting a new generation of experiments characterized by source masses in the range
Summary
In the previous chapter we concluded that the di cult challenge of exploring the neutrino-mass region corresponding to the inverse hierarchy requires experiments that can be extrapolated to large masses of ββ emitter, in the range of a few tonnes, while keeping the background rate as low as possible, typically well below count keV− tonne− year−. E rst phase of the project ( – ) has been largely devoted to R&D with two medium-size prototypes, NEXT-DEMO and NEXT-DBDM, built with the double aim of demonstrating the detector concept and gaining technical expertise to facilitate the design, construction and operation of a larger system. Both prototypes and their main results are described in §. Xenon- is the cheapest ββ isotope [ ], and the most obvious candidate for a future tonne-scale νββ-decay experiment In this respect, NEXT- , in addition to contributing to the current exploration of the degenerate region of neutrino masses, will serve as a springboard for a possible tonne-scale xenon gas detector
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