Mitigation Strategies for ${}^{42}$Ar/${}^{42}$K Background Reduction using Encapsulation with Ultra-Pure Plastic for the LEGEND Experiment

Abstract

Neutrinoless double-beta (0$\nu \beta \beta$) decay is the most compelling approach to determine the Majorana nature of neutrino and measure effective Majorana neutrino mass. The LEGEND collaboration is aiming to look for 0$\nu \beta \beta$ decay of ${}^{76}$Ge with unprecedented sensitivity. If underground-sourced argon is not available, the cosmogenically-induced isotope ${}^{42}$Ar and its decay progeny ${}^{42}$K in the liquid argon active veto could create a challenging background for the 0$\nu \beta \beta$ signal. We are studying methodologies to mitigate the ${}^{42}$K background. In order to achieve this, encapsulation of germanium detectors with 3D-printed technologies using low background material are currently under investigation. Simulation results of Poly(ethylene 2,6- naphthalate) (PEN) encapsulation of germanium detectors and plans to study other potential materials are presented.

4 pages, 3 figures, conference

References in corpus (4)

• Final Results of GERDA on the Search for Neutrinoless Double-$\beta$ Decay
• NEXO: Neutrinoless double beta decay search beyond $10^{28}$ year half-life sensitivity
• LEGEND-1000 Preconceptual Design Report
• Optical properties of low background PEN structural components for the LEGEND-200 experiment

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Theoretical and Experimental Challenges in the Measurement of Neutrino Mass