NEXO: Neutrinoless double beta decay search beyond $10^{28}$ year half-life sensitivity

Abstract

The nEXO neutrinoless double beta decay experiment is designed to use a time projection chamber and 5000 kg of isotopically enriched liquid xenon to search for the decay in ${}^{136}$Xe. Progress in the detector design, paired with higher fidelity in its simulation and an advanced data analysis, based on the one used for the final results of EXO-200, produce a sensitivity prediction that exceeds the half-life of $10^{28}$ years. Specifically, improvements have been made in the understanding of production of scintillation photons and charge as well as of their transport and reconstruction in the detector. The more detailed knowledge of the detector construction has been paired with more assays for trace radioactivity in different materials. In particular, the use of custom electroformed copper is now incorporated in the design, leading to a substantial reduction in backgrounds from the intrinsic radioactivity of detector materials. Furthermore, a number of assumptions from previous sensitivity projections have gained further support from interim work validating the nEXO experiment concept. Together these improvements and updates suggest that the nEXO experiment will reach a half-life sensitivity of $1.35\times 10^{28}$ yr at 90% confidence level in 10 years of data taking, covering the parameter space associated with the inverted neutrino mass ordering, along with a significant portion of the parameter space for the normal ordering scenario, for almost all nuclear matrix elements. The effects of backgrounds deviating from the nominal values used for the projections are also illustrated, concluding that the nEXO design is robust against a number of imperfections of the model.

arXiv comment26 pages, 19 figures, version accepted by Journal of Phys. G

References in corpus (59)

• Asymptotic formulae for likelihood-based tests of new physics
• A Unified Approach to the Classical Statistical Analysis of Small Signals
• The fate of hints: updated global analysis of three-flavor neutrino oscillations
• Double Beta Decay, Majorana Neutrinos, and Neutrino Mass
• Leptogenesis as the origin of matter
• Phase space factors for double-$\beta$ decay
• Neutrino-less Double Beta Decay and Particle Physics
• Electroweak Baryon Number Non-Conservation in the Early Universe and in High Energy Collisions
• Physics reach of the XENON1T dark matter experiment
• Search for Majorana neutrinos with the first two years of EXO-200 data
• Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay in ${}^{136}$Xe with EXO-200
• Energy density functional study of nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless $\beta \beta$ decay
• $0\nu \beta \beta$ and $2\nu \beta \beta$ nuclear matrix elements in the interacting boson model with isospin restoration
• Muon-Induced Background Study for Underground Laboratories
• The influence of pairing on the nuclear matrix elements of the neutrinoless double beta decays
• Solar Neutrino Measurements in Super-Kamiokande-IV
• $0\nu \beta \beta$ and $2\nu \beta \beta$ nuclear matrix elements, QRPA, and isospin symmetry restoration
• Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay with the Complete EXO-200 Dataset
• NEST: A Comprehensive Model for Scintillation Yield in Liquid Xenon
• Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay with the Upgraded EXO-200 Detector
• Observation of Two-Neutrino Double-Beta Decay in Xe-136 with EXO-200
• Sensitivity and discovery potential of the proposed nEXO experiment to neutrinoless double beta decay
• Large-Scale Calculations of the Double-Beta Decay of 76Ge, 130Te, 136Xe, and 150Nd in the Deformed Self-Consistent Skyrme Quasiparticle Random-Phase Approximation
• An improved measurement of the 2νββ half-life of Xe-136 with EXO-200
• Shape and pairing fluctuations effects on neutrinoless double beta decay nuclear matrix elements
• Systematic study of nuclear matrix elements in neutrinoless double-beta decay with a beyond mean-field covariant density functional theory
• Correlated Fluctuations between Luminescence and Ionization in Liquid Xenon
• Vectorlike leptons at the Large Hadron Collider
• Shell model predictions for ${}^{124}$Sn double-beta decay
• The Majorana Demonstrator Radioassay Program
• Analysis of Light Neutrino Exchange and Short-Range Mechanisms in $0\nu \beta \beta$ Decay
• Neutrinoless $\beta \beta$ decay mediated by the exchange of light and heavy neutrinos: The role of nuclear structure correlations
• The $0\nu \beta \beta$-decay nuclear matrix element for light and heavy neutrino mass mechanisms from deformed QRPA cacluations for ${}^{76}$Ge, ${}^{82}$Se, ${}^{130}$Te, ${}^{136}$Xe and ${}^{150}$Nd with isospin restoration
• Absorption of Scintillation Light in a 100 $\ell$ Liquid Xenon$\gamma$ Ray Detector and Expected Detector Performance
• Multiple CP Non-conserving Mechanisms of $\betabeta$-Decay and Nuclei with Largely Different Nuclear Matrix Elements
• nEXO Pre-Conceptual Design Report
• Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay and the Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe
• $0\nu \beta \beta$ nuclear matrix elements, neutrino potentials and $\mathrm{SU}(4)$ symmetry
• Measurement of the ${\nu }_e$ and Total ${}^8$B Solar Neutrino Fluxes with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Phase-III Data Set
• The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) radioactivity and cleanliness control programs
• Measurements of the ion fraction and mobility of alpha and beta decay products in liquid xenon using EXO-200
• Measurement of the refractive index and attenuation length of liquid xenon for its scintillation light
• Measurement of the Drift Velocity and Transverse Diffusion of Electrons in Liquid Xenon with the EXO-200 Detector
• Characterization of the Hamamatsu VUV4 MPPCs for nEXO
• Online ${}^{222}$Rn removal by cryogenic distillation in the XENON100 experiment
• Investigation of radioactivity-induced backgrounds in EXO-200
• VUV-sensitive Silicon Photomultipliers for Xenon Scintillation Light Detection in nEXO
• Identification of Radiopure Titanium for the LZ Dark Matter Experiment and Future Rare Event Searches
• Measurement of the scintillation and ionization response of liquid xenon at MeV energies in the EXO-200 experiment
• Characterization of Silicon Photomultipliers for nEXO
• Characterization of an Ionization Readout Tile for nEXO
• Criteria for projected discovery and exclusion sensitivities of counting experiments
• Solar neutrino-electron scattering as background limitation for double beta decay
• Xenon purity analysis for EXO-200 via mass spectrometry
• The nylon balloon for xenon loaded liquid scintillator in KamLAND-Zen 800 neutrinoless double-beta decay search experiment
• Measurements of electron transport in liquid and gas Xenon using a laser-driven photocathode
• Simulation of charge readout with segmented tiles in nEXO
• Direct method for the quantitative analysis of surface contamination on ultra-low background materials from exposure to dust
• Event Reconstruction in a Liquid Xenon Time Projection Chamber with an Optically-Open Field Cage

Cited by in corpus (85)

• Toward the discovery of matter creation with neutrinoless double-beta decay
• PandaX-xT: a Multi-ten-tonne Liquid Xenon Observatory at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory
• Final Result on the Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay of ${}^{82}$Se with CUPID-0
• Towards Precise and Accurate Calculations of Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay: Project Scoping Workshop Report
• Unraveling the $0\nu \beta \beta$ Decay Mechanisms
• Neutrinoless $\beta \beta$-decay nuclear matrix elements from two-neutrino $\beta \beta$-decay data
• The symmetry approach to quark and lepton masses and mixing
• Testing Realistic $SO(10)$ SUSY GUTs with Proton Decay and Gravitational Waves
• Kiloton-scale xenon detectors for neutrinoless double beta decay and other new physics searches
• Leptogenesis in $SO(10)$ Models with $A_4$ Modular Symmetry
• The XLZD Design Book: Towards the Next-Generation Liquid Xenon Observatory for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics
• The Triggerless Data Acquisition System of the XENONnT Experiment
• Predicting the neutrinoless double-beta decay matrix element of ${}^{136}$Xe using a statistical approach
• Reactor neutrino liquid xenon coherent elastic scattering experiment
• Probing Beyond the Standard Model Physics with Double-beta Decays
• Correlations Between Neutrinoless Double-Beta, Double Gamow-Teller and Double-Magnetic Decays in the pnQRPA Framework
• Modular flavor symmetry and vector-valued modular forms
• Charge Trapping and Energy Performance of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR
• Search for MeV Electron Recoils from Dark Matter in EXO-200
• Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Sensitivity of the XLZD Rare Event Observatory
• ${}^{138}\mathrm{Ba}(d,\alpha )$ study of states in ${}^{136}\mathrm{Cs}$: Implications for new physics searches with xenon detectors
• Performance of a Radial Time Projection Chamber with Electroluminescence in Liquid Xenon
• Theoretical and Experimental Challenges in the Measurement of Neutrino Mass
• Nonholomorphic $A_4$ modular invariance for fermion masses and mixing in SU(5) GUT
• Enhanced feature encoding and classification on distributed quantum hardware
• GPU-based optical simulation of the DARWIN detector
• Comprehensive Study of Radon Progeny Attachment to Surfaces
• Generative Adversarial Networks for Scintillation Signal Simulation in EXO-200
• Search for Two-neutrino Double-Beta Decay of ${}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}$ to the $0_1^{+}$ excited state of ${}^{136}\mathrm{Ba}$ with the Complete EXO-200 Dataset
• Interplay between non-interfering neutrino exchange mechanisms and nuclear matrix elements in $0\nu \beta \beta$ decay
• Characterization of a ${}^{220}$Rn source for low-energy electronic recoil calibration of the XENONnT detector
• Energy Calibration of Germanium Detectors for the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR
• Neutrinoless double beta decay and the muonium-to-antimuonium transition in models with a doubly charged scalar
• Insights on the Cosmic Origin of Matter from Proton Stability
• Cryogenic bath-type heat exchangers for ultra-pure noble gas applications
• Environmental radon control in the 700-m underground laboratory at JUNO
• Cosmic Neutrino Decoupling and its Observable Imprints: Insights from Entropic-Dual Transport
• Dark matter as the source of neutrino mass: theory overview and experimental prospects
• Development of silicon interposer: towards an ultralow radioactivity background photodetector system
• Constraining the pseudo-Dirac nature of neutrinos using astrophysical neutrino flavor data
• Testing the Froggatt-Nielsen Mechanism with Lepton Flavor and Number Violating Processes
• Insights on the Scale of Leptogenesis from Neutrino Masses and Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay
• Projections of Discovery Potentials from Expected Background
• Ion manipulation from liquid Xe to vacuum: Ba-tagging for a nEXO upgrade and future $0\nu \beta \beta$ experiments
• Development of High-Sensitivity Radon Emanation Measurement Systems with Surface Treatment Optimization
• Probing Dark Sector Particles Coupling to Neutrinos with Double Beta Decay
• Fermion Masses and Mixing in Pati-Salam Unification with $S_3$ Modular Symmetry
• Sensitivity analysis towards trace-uranium detection with $\gamma$-$\gamma$ coincidence NAA
• Cosmogenic Muon Background Characterization for the Colorado Underground Research Institute (CURIE)
• Resonant leptogenesis in inverse see-saw framework with modular $S_4$ symmetry
• Electron-ion recombination in composite interactions in liquid xenon
• Supernova electron-neutrino interactions with xenon in the nEXO detector
• Development of a ${}^{127}$Xe calibration source for nEXO
• Fluorescence of pyrene-doped polystyrene films from room temperature down to 4 K for wavelength-shifting applications
• Validation of the VUV-reflective coating for next-generation liquid xenon detectors
• Dirac Neutrinos and Dark Matter within a Minimal Discrete Symmetry Model
• Measurements of the Quantum Yield of Silicon using Geiger-mode Avalanching Photodetectors
• Measurement of gas properties for the ion-TPC of N$\nu$DEx experiment
• Characterization of external cross-talk from silicon photomultipliers in a liquid xenon detector
• Does thermal leptogenesis in a canonical seesaw rely on initial memory?
• Calculation and comparison of sensitivities in $0\nu \beta \beta$ experiments based on key parameters
• Low scale leptogenesis and $T{M}_1$ mixing in neutrinophillic two Higgs doublet model($\nu$2HDM) with S4 flavor symmetry
• Mitigation Strategies for ${}^{42}$Ar/${}^{42}$K Background Reduction using Encapsulation with Ultra-Pure Plastic for the LEGEND Experiment
• Design of high-strength, radiopure copper-chromium alloys for rare-event searches assisted by computational thermodynamics
• Demonstrating a broadband Photon Detection Efficiency model on VUV sensitive Silicon Photomultipliers
• Neutrino Mass Induced $n$-$\overline{n}$ Oscillation
• The eV-Scale Sterile Neutrino and Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay
• Radon Emanation from Dust of Varying Composition and Size
• The study of $0\nu \beta \beta$ decay of ${}^{136}$Xe using nonclosure approach in nuclear shell model
• Suppression of electrical breakdown phenomena in liquid TriMethyl Bismuth based ionization detectors
• A flexible test facility for liquid xenon detector development
• Development of a simulation and analysis framework for NνDEx experiment
• Simulation Study of Photon-to-Digital Converter (PDC) Timing Specifications for LoLX Experiment
• Approximate magic symmetry in a cobimaximal scenario of Majorana neutrinos
• An assay-based background projection for the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR using Monte Carlo Uncertainty Propagation
• Ultra-pure Nickel for Structural Components of Low-Radioactivity Instruments
• Canadian Contributions to the Search for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay
• Supernova Detection at SNOLAB
• Embedding Generalized CP Symmetry in One Zero Texture Neutrino Mass Models
• Removal of radon progeny from delicate surfaces
• Radiative neutrino mass generation and dark matter through vectorlike leptons
• Novel High-Radiopurity Doped Amorphous Silicon Resistors for Low-Background Detectors
• Xenon Signal Denoising via Supervised, Semi-Supervised, and Unsupervised Models
• Ab initio short-range nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless double-beta decay
• Evidence for neutron-induced $\mathbf{\gamma }$-ray emissions in the vicinity of the $\mathbf{Q}$ value of ${}^{76}\text{Ge}$ $0\nu \beta \beta$ decay