The Majorana Project

Abstract

Building a \BBz experiment with the ability to probe neutrino mass in the inverted hierarchy region requires the combination of a large detector mass sensitive to \BBz, on the order of 1-tonne, and unprecedented background levels, on the order of or less than 1 count per year in the \BBz signal region. The MAJORANA Collaboration proposes a design based on using high-purity enriched Ge-76 crystals deployed in ultra-low background electroformed Cu cryostats and using modern analysis techniques that should be capable of reaching the required sensitivity while also being scalable to a 1-tonne size. To demonstrate feasibility, the collaboration plans to construct a prototype system, the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, consisting of 30 kg of 86% enriched \Ge-76 detectors and 30 kg of natural or isotope-76-depleted Ge detectors. We plan to deploy and evaluate two different Ge detector technologies, one based on a p-type configuration and the other on n-type.

paper submitted for the 2008 Carolina International Symposium on Neutrino Physics

References in corpus (4)

• Double Beta Decay, Majorana Neutrinos, and Neutrino Mass
• Erratum: Assessment of uncertainties in QRPA $0\nu \beta \beta$-decay nuclear matrix elements [Nucl. Phys. A 766, 107 (2006)]
• Large-Mass Ultra-Low Noise Germanium Detectors: Performance and Applications in Neutrino and Astroparticle Physics
• MaGe - a Geant4-based Monte Carlo framework for low-background experiments

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Pulse shape discrimination studies with a Broad-Energy Germanium detector for signal identification and background suppression in the GERDA double beta decay experiment
• Sense and sensitivity of double beta decay experiments
• Neutrinoless Double Beta-Decay
• Multi-Angle Simulation of Flavor Evolution in the Neutrino Neutronization Burst From an O-Ne-Mg Core-Collapse Supernova
• The Majorana Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Experiment
• Non-zero ${\theta }_{13}$ and CP-violation in inverse neutrino mass matrix
• Fast-Neutron Activation of Long-Lived Isotopes in Enriched Ge
• Low-Background gamma counting at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility
• Bilarge Neutrino Mixing and Abelian Flavor Symmetry
• Maximal CP-Violation in Neutrino Mass Matrix in light of the latest Daya Bay result on ${\theta }_{13}$
• Neutron inelastic scattering in natural Cu as a background in neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments