nEXO: neutrinoless double beta decay search beyond 10(28) year half-life sensitivity

Adhikari G, Al Kharusi S, Angelico E, Anton G, Arnquist IJ, Badhrees , Bane J, Belov , Bernard EP, Bhatta T, Bolotnikov A, Breur PA, Brodsky JP, Brown E, Brunner T, Caden E, Cao GF, Cao L, Chambers C, Chana B, Charlebois SA, Chernyak D, Chiu M, Cleveland B, Collister R, Czyz SA, Dalmasson J, Daniels T, Darroch L, DeVoe R, Di Vacri ML, Dilling J, Ding YY, Dolgolenko A, Dolinski MJ, Dragone A, Echevers J, Elbeltagi M, Fabris L, Fairbank D, Fairbank W, Farine J, Ferrara S, Feyzbakhsh S, Fu YS, Gallina G, Gautam P, Giacomini G, Gillis W, Gingras C, Goeldi D, Gornea R, Gratta G, Hardy CA, Harouaka K, Heffner M, Hoppe EW, House A, Iverson A, Jamil A, Jewell M, Jiang XS, Karelin A, Kaufman LJ, Kotov , Krücken R, Kuchenkov A, Kumar KS, Lan Y, Larson A, Leach KG, Lenardo BG, Leonard DS, Li G, Li S, Li Z, Licciardi C, Lindsay R, Maclellan R, Mahtab M, Martel-Dion P, Masbou J, Massacret N, Mcelroy T, Mcmichael K, Peregrina MM, Michel T, Mong B, Moore DC, Murray K, Nattress J, Natzke CR, Newby RJ, Ni K, Nolet F, Nusair O, Ondze JCN, Odgers K, Odian A, Orrell JL, Ortega GS, Overman CT, Parent S, Perna A, Piepke A, Pocar A, Pratte JF, Priel N, Radeka , Raguzin E, Ramonnye GJ, Rao T, Rasiwala H, Rescia S, Retière F, Ringuette J, Riot , Rossignol T, Rowson PC, Roy N, Saldanha R, Sangiorgio S, Shang X, Soma AK, Spadoni F, Stekhanov , Sun XL, Tarka M, Thibado S, Tidball A, Todd J, Totev T, Triambak S, Tsang RHM, Tsang T, Vachon F, Veeraraghavan V, Viel S, Vivo-Vilches C, Vogel P, Vuilleumier JL, Wagenpfeil M, Wager T, Walent M, Wamba K, Wang Q, Wei W, Wen LJ, Wichoski U, Wilde S, Worcester M, Wu SX, Wu WH, Wu X, Xia Q, Yan W, Yang H, Yang L, Zeldovich O, Zhao J, Ziegler T (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Book Volume: 49

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1088/1361-6471/ac3631

Abstract

The nEXO neutrinoless double beta (0 nu beta 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 Xe-136. 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 x 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.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

University of Kentucky United States (USA) (US) Brookhaven National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) Stanford University United States (USA) (US) Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) / 中国科学院 China (CN) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) United States (USA) (US) Yale University United States (USA) (US) University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego, UCSD) United States (USA) (US) National Research Centre (NRC) / المركز القومي للبحوث Egypt (EG) Oak Ridge National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) Colorado State University United States (USA) (US) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) United States (USA) (US) McGill University Canada (CA) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory United States (USA) (US) Laurentian University Canada (CA) University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) United States (USA) (US) Drexel University United States (USA) (US) Stanford National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) United States (USA) (US) Carleton University Canada (CA) Université de Sherbrooke Canada (CA) Universität Bern Switzerland (CH) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill United States (USA) (US) TRIUMF Canada (CA) University of the Western Cape (UWC) South Africa (ZA) California Institute of Technology (Caltech) United States (USA) (US) Skyline College United States (USA) (US) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign United States (USA) (US) Institute for Basic Science Korea, Republic of (KR) University of South Dakota United States (USA) (US) Colorado School of Mines United States (USA) (US) Université de Nantes France (FR)

How to cite

APA:

Adhikari, G., Al Kharusi, S., Angelico, E., Anton, G., Arnquist, I.J., Badhrees, .,... Ziegler, T. (2022). nEXO: neutrinoless double beta decay search beyond 10(28) year half-life sensitivity. Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, 49(1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6471/ac3631

MLA:

Adhikari, G., et al. "nEXO: neutrinoless double beta decay search beyond 10(28) year half-life sensitivity." Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics 49.1 (2022).

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