PandaX-III: Searching for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay with High Pressure ${}^{136}$Xe Gas Time Projection Chambers

Abstract

Searching for the Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay (NLDBD) is now regarded as the topmost promising technique to explore the nature of neutrinos after the discovery of neutrino masses in oscillation experiments. PandaX-III (Particle And Astrophysical Xenon Experiment III) will search for the NLDBD of ${}^{136}$Xe at the China Jin Ping underground Laboratory (CJPL). In the first phase of the experiment, a high pressure gas Time Projection Chamber (TPC) will contain 200 kg, 90% ${}^{136}$Xe enriched gas operated at 10 bar. Fine pitch micro-pattern gas detector (Microbulk Micromegas) will be used at both ends of the TPC for the charge readout with a cathode in the middle. Charge signals can be used to reconstruct tracks of NLDBD events and provide good energy and spatial resolution. The detector will be immersed in a large water tank to ensure $\sim$5 m of water shielding in all directions. The second phase, a ton-scale experiment, will consist of five TPCs in the same water tank, with improved energy resolution and better control over backgrounds.

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Projected sensitivity of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment to the $0\nu \beta \beta$ decay of ${}^{136}$Xe
• Exploring the hidden interior of the Earth with directional neutrino measurements
• Topological background discrimination in the PandaX-III neutrinoless double beta decay experiment
• Forecast on lepton asymmetry from future CMB experiments
• Tentative sensitivity of future $0\nu \beta \beta$-decay experiments to neutrino masses and Majorana CP phases
• On the possibility of positive-ion detection in gaseous TPCs and its potential use for neutrinoless double beta decay searches in Xe-136