SNO+ status and prospects

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (34n35) ◽  
pp. 2044013
Author(s):  
J. Caravaca

SNO+ is a multi-purpose experiment whose main goal is to study the nature of the neutrino mass through the observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay. Detection of this rare process would indicate that neutrinos are elementary Majorana particles, proving that lepton number is not conserved. The SNO+ detector will operate in three distinct phases with different target materials: water, pure liquid scintillator and tellurium-loaded liquid scintillator. During the water phase, the external backgrounds were confirmed to be within expectation, new limits on specific channels of invisible nucleon decay modes were set and the Boron-8 solar neutrino flux was measured and confirmed to be compatible with previous measurements. With a completed water phase, SNO+ is moving towards its main Tellurium-loaded phase. Here, we report the status of the experiment, the recent results and the potential of SNO+ for neutrinoless double-beta decay search.

Author(s):  
Mattia Beretta ◽  
Lorenzo Pagnanini

Searching for neutrinoless double beta decay is a top priority in particle and astroparticle physics, being the most sensitive test of lepton number violation and the only suitable process to probe the Majorana nature of neutrinos. In order to increase the experimental sensitivity for this particular search, ton-scale detectors operated at nearly zero-background conditions with a few keV energy resolution are required. In this scenario, cryogenic detectors have proven effective in addressing many of these issues simultaneously. After long technical developments, the CUORE experiment established the possibility to operate large scale detectors based on this technology. Parallel studies pointed out that scintillating cryogenic detectors represent a suitable upgrade for the CUORE design, directed towards higher sensitivities. In this work, we review the recent development of cryogenic detectors, starting from the status of the art and outlying the path toward next-generation experiments.


2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (A) ◽  
pp. 786-789
Author(s):  
Paolo Zavarise

The GERDA experiment is searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay of 76Ge. An observation of the neutrinoless double beta decay will not only prove lepton number violation by two units, but also that the neutrino is its own anti-particle, thus of Majorana type. The status of the experiment will be presented.


1993 ◽  
Vol 02 (03) ◽  
pp. 507-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.K. MOE

Substantial progress has been made in double beta decay experiments in the past few years, including the beginning of sensitive new searches for neutrinoless double beta decay, and several additional positive detections of the two-neutrino mode by geochemical, radiochemical, and direct-counting techniques. This review discusses the recent experimental activity.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Giuliani ◽  
Alfredo Poves

This paper introduces the neutrinoless double-beta decay (the rarest nuclear weak process) and describes the status of the research for this transition, both from the point of view of theoretical nuclear physics and in terms of the present and future experimental scenarios. Implications of this phenomenon on crucial aspects of particle physics are briefly discussed. The calculations of the nuclear matrix elements in case of mass mechanisms are reviewed, and a range for these quantities is proposed for the most appealing candidates. After introducing general experimental concepts—such as the choice of the best candidates, the different proposed technological approaches, and the sensitivity—we make the point on the experimental situation. Searches running or in preparation are described, providing an organic presentation which picks up similarities and differences. A critical comparison of the adopted technologies and of their physics reach (in terms of sensitivity to the effective Majorana neutrino mass) is performed. As a conclusion, we try to envisage what we expect round the corner and at a longer time scale.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. Artusa ◽  
F. T. Avignone ◽  
O. Azzolini ◽  
M. Balata ◽  
T. I. Banks ◽  
...  

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.


1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (06) ◽  
pp. 433-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
HIROYUKI NISHIURA ◽  
KOUICHI MATSUDA ◽  
TAKESHI FUKUYAMA

We discuss the constraints of lepton mixing angles from lepton number violating processes such as neutrinoless double beta decay, μ--e+ conversion and K decay, K-→π+μ-μ- which are allowed only if neutrinos are Majorana particles. The rates of these processes are proportional to the averaged neutrino mass defined by [Formula: see text] in the absence of right-handed weak coupling. Here a, b(j) are flavor(mass) eigenstates and Uaj is the left-handed lepton mixing matrix. We give general conditions imposed on <mν>ab in terms of mi, lepton mixing angles and CP violating phases (three phases in Majorana neutrinos). These conditions are reduced to the constraints among mi, lepton mixing angles and <mν>ab which are irrelevant to the concrete values of CP phases. Given a <mν>ab experimentally, these conditions constrain mi and the lepton mixing angles. Though these constraints are still loose except for neutrinoless double beta decay, they will become helpful through rapid improvements of experiments. By using these constraints we also derive the limits on averaged neutrino masses for μ--e+ conversion and K decay, K-→π+μ-μ-, respectively. We also present the bounds for CP phases in terms of mi, mixing angles and <mν>ab.


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