Upgrade of the MAGNEX spectrometer toward the high-intensity phase of NUMEN

M Cavallaro ,Franck Delaunay,Salvatore Calabrese,Diego Sartirana,F Iazzi ,V Capirossi ,I Ciraldo ,O Sgouros ,D Carbone ,D Torresi ,F Cappuzzello ,D Calvo ,A Spatafora ,M Fisichella ,F Pinna ,P Finocchiaro ,V Soukeras ,G A Brischetto ,C Agodi ,S Tudisco

doi:10.1051/epjconf/202125203003

Abstract

The NUMEN experimental activity with accelerated beams is performed at INFN–Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania using the Superconducting Cyclotron and the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer. The scientific motivation of NUMEN is to extract experiment-driven information on the nuclear matrix elements entering in the expression of the 0νββ decay half-life. The reaction cross sections involved, especially for the double charge exchange process, are very low, thus limiting the present exploration to a few selected isotopes of interest in the context of typically low-yield experimental runs. In order to make feasible a systematic study of all the candidate nuclei, a major upgrade of the LNS facility is foreseen to increase the experimental yield by more than two orders of magnitude. To this purpose, frontier technologies are being developed for the accelerator and the detection systems. An updated description of the choices derived from the recent R&D activity on the target system and MAGNEX focal plane detector is given.

Highlights

MAGNEX [1] is a large acceptance magnetic spectrometer installed at INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy)
As discussed in [2], the present limits of the facility in terms of beam power delivered by the CS accelerator and the acceptable rate of a few kHz for the MAGNEX focal plane detector (FPD) have limited so far the exploration of Double Charge Exchange (DCE) to a small number of cases (e.g., 12C, 40Ca, 48Ti, 76Ge, 76Se, 116Cd, 116Sn, 130Te) with beam power of a few W
The systematic exploration of all the nuclei of interest to 0νββ decay, as foreseen in NUMEN, requires an upgraded set-up able to work with kW beam power [6]

Summary

Introduction

MAGNEX [1] is a large acceptance magnetic spectrometer installed at INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy) It analyses in momentum and detects the products of different kinds of nuclear reactions induced by ion beams from both the Tandem Van der Graaff and Superconductive Cyclotron (CS) accelerators. The DCE cross sections are very small (a few nb), requiring a high sensitivity [5] For this reason, as discussed in [2], the present limits of the facility in terms of beam power delivered by the CS accelerator and the acceptable rate of a few kHz for the MAGNEX focal plane detector (FPD) have limited so far the exploration of DCE to a small number of cases (e.g., 12C, 40Ca, 48Ti, 76Ge, 76Se, 116Cd, 116Sn, 130Te) with beam power of a few W. Three more target positions are present to allocate a pure HOPG target for background evaluation, an empty hole for the beam transport procedures and an alumina layer needed for the beam optics optimization

Development of targets for high-intensity beams

The particle-identification wall

Conclusions