E. Aguayo

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Experiment

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR will search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of the isotope Ge with a mixed array of enriched and natural germanium detectors. The observation of this rare decay would indicate that the neutrino is its own antiparticle, demonstrate that lepton number is not conserved, and provide information on the absolute mass scale of the neutrino. The DEMONSTRATOR is being assembled at the 4850-foot level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. The array will be situated in a low-background environment and surrounded by passive and active shielding. Here we describe the science goals of the DEMONSTRATOR and the details of its design.

The MAJORANA demonstrator: A search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of germanium-76

The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay would determine whether the neutrino is a Majorana particle and provide information on the absolute scale of neutrino mass. The MAJORANA Collaboration is constructing the DEMONSTRATOR, an array of germanium detectors, to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76-Ge. The DEMONSTRATOR will contain 40 kg of germanium; up to 30 kg will be enriched to 86% in 76-Ge. The DEMONSTRATOR will be deployed deep underground in an ultra-low-background shielded environment. Operation of the DEMONSTRATOR aims to determine whether a future tonne-scale germanium experiment can achieve a background goal of one count per tonne-year in a 4-keV region of interest around the 76-Ge neutrinoless double-beta decay Q-value of 2039 keV.

The Majorana Parts Tracking Database

The Majorana Demonstrator is an ultra-low background physics experiment searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay of 76 Ge. The Majorana Parts Tracking Database is used to record the history of components used in the construction of the Demonstrator. The tracking implementation takes a novel approach based on the schema-free database technology CouchDB. Transportation, storage, and processes undergone by parts such as machining or cleaning are linked to part records. Tracking parts provides a great logistics benefit and an important quality a ssurance reference during construction. In addition, the l ocation history of parts provides an estimate of their exposure to cosmic radiation. A web application for data entry and a radiation exposure calculator have been developed as tools for achieving the extreme radio-purity required for this rare decay search.

Dark matter sensitivities of the MAJORANA demonstrator

The Majorana Demonstrator is an array of natural and enriched high purity germanium detectors that will search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of Germanium-76 and perform a search for weakly interacting massive particles with masses below 10 GeV. To reach the background rate goal in the neutrinoless double-beta decay region of interest of 4 counts/keV/t/y, the DEMONSTRATOR will utilize a number of background reduction strategies, including a time-correlated event cut for 68Ge that requires a sub-keV energy threshold. This low energy threshold allows the DEMONSTRATOR to extend its physics reach to include a search for light WIMPs. We will discuss the detector systems and data analysis techniques required to achieve sub-keV thresholds as well as present the projected dark matter sensitivities of the Majorana Demonstrator.

Status of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiment

The Majorana Demonstrator neutrinoless double beta-decay experiment is currently under construction at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota, USA. An overview and status of the experiment are given.

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR: Progress towards showing the feasibility of a tonne–scale

The Majorana Demonstrator will search for the neutrinoless double–beta decay (0vββ) of the 76Ge isotope with a mixed array of enriched and natural germanium detectors. The observation of this rare decay would indicate the neutrino is its own anti–particle, demonstrate that lepton number is not conserved, and provide information on the absolute mass–scale of the neutrino. The Demonstrator is being assembled at the 4850 foot level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. The array will be contained in a low–background environment and surrounded by passive and active shielding. The goals for the Demonstrator are: demonstrating a background rate less than 3 t−1 y−1 in the 4 keV region of interest (ROI) surrounding the 2039 keV 76Ge endpoint energy; establishing the technology required to build a tonne–scale germanium based double–beta decay experiment; testing the recent claim of observation of 0vββ [1]; and performing a direct search for light WIMPs (3-10 GeV/c2).

^{76}Ge

The Majorana collaboration is actively pursuing research and development aimed at a tonne-scale {sup 76}Ge neutrinoless double-beta decay ({beta}{beta}(0{nu})-decay) experiment. The current, primary focus is the construction of the Majorana Demonstrator experiment, an R and D effort that will field approximately 40 kg of germanium detectors with mixed enrichment levels. This article provides a status update on the construction of the Demonstrator.

neutrinoless double–beta decay experiment

ABSTRACT A two-phase nitrogen thermosiphon was developed for the new generation of low-background high-purity germanium (HPGe) arrays. The cooling system for these arrays has to be able to handle the heat load (>20 W) presented by a large detector mass while meeting stringent requirements necessary for low-background systems. The HPGe detector modules should operate as close to liquid nitrogen temperature (<80K) as possible to provide adequate operating conditions for a full range of HPGe impurity concentrations. In addition, exceptional temperature stability (<1 K) is needed to reduce electronic gain shifts due to changes in the front-end electronics operating temperature. In order to meet the background requirements of state-of-the-art systems these arrays are enclosed in passive lead and copper shielding up to 1 m thick. In this paper we present a cooling system for low-background experiments that complies with these stringent geometrical restrictions. Active cooling was integrated via a horizontal thermosiphon that can be fabricated using ultra-pure electroformed copper. It was charged with nitrogen to 434 kPa (63 PSIA) at 292 K, which provided a fill ratio of 10%. The results showed that the thermosiphon can effectively remove in excess of 25 W of heat load.

The Majorana Experiment

High-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors housed in copper cryostats and shielding materials are used in measurements of the extraordinarily rare nuclear decay process, neutrinoless double-beta decay (0vββ), and for dark matter searches. Cosmogenic production of 68Ge and 60Co in the germanium and copper represent an irreducible background to these experiments as the subsequent decays of these isotopes can mimic the signals of interest. These radioactive isotopes can be removed by chemical and/or isotopic separation, but begin to grow-in to the material after separation until the material is moved deep underground. This work is motivated by the need to have a reliable, experimentally benchmarked simulation tool for evaluating shielding materials used during transportation and near-surface manufacturing of experiment components. The resulting simulations tool has been used to enhance the effectiveness of an existing transport shield used to ship enriched germanium from the separations facility to the detector manufacturing facility.