The NEXT experiment: A high pressure xenon gas TPC for neutrinoless double beta decay searches
arXiv:1210.4020 · doi:10.1016/j.nima.2012.10.048
Abstract
Neutrinoless double beta decay is a hypothetical, very slow nuclear transition in which two neutrons undergo beta decay simultaneously and without the emission of neutrinos. The importance of this process goes beyond its intrinsic interest: an unambiguous observation would establish a Majorana nature for the neutrino and prove the violation of lepton number. NEXT is a new experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay using a radiopure high-pressure xenon gas TPC, filled with 100 kg of Xe enriched in Xe-136. NEXT will be the first large high-pressure gas TPC to use electroluminescence readout with SOFT (Separated, Optimized FuncTions) technology. The design consists in asymmetric TPC, with photomultipliers behind a transparent cathode and position-sensitive light pixels behind the anode. The experiment is approved to start data taking at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc (LSC), Spain, in 2014.
arXiv commentProceedings for the 12th Pisa Meeting on Advanced Detectors
References in corpus (7)
- Leptogenesis
- Latest Results from the Heidelberg-Moscow Double Beta Decay Experiment
- Observation of Two-Neutrino Double-Beta Decay in Xe-136 with EXO-200
- NEXT-100 Technical Design Report (TDR). Executive Summary
- Sense and sensitivity of double beta decay experiments
- NEXT, a HPGXe TPC for neutrinoless double beta decay searches
- SiPMs coated with TPB : coating protocol and characterization for NEXT