First results on neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te with the calorimetric CUORICINO experiment

Year: 2004

Authors: Arnaboldi C., Artusa D.R., Avignone III F.T., Balata M., Bandac I., Barucci M., Beeman J.W., Brofferio C., Bucci C., Capelli S., Capozzi F., Carbone L., Cebrian S., Cremonesi O., Creswick R.J., De Waard A., Farach H.A., Fascilla A., Fiorini E., Frossati G., Giuliani A., Gorla P., Haller E.E., McDonald R.J., Morales A., Norman E.B., Nucciotti A., Olivieri E., Palmieri E., Pasca E., Pavan M., Pedretti M., Pessina G., Pirro S., Pobes C., Previtali E., Pyle M., Risegari L., Rosenfeld C., Sangiorgio S., Sisti M., Smith A.R., Torres L., Ventura G.

Autors Affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, dell\’Univ. di Milano-Bicocca, Sezione di Milano dell\’INFN, I-20126 Milano, Italy; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, I-67010, Assergi (L\’Aquila), Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica, dell\’Università di Firenze, Sezione di Firenze dell\’INFN, I-50125 Firenze, Italy; Lawrence Berkeley Natl. Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; Lab. de Fis. Nuclear Y Alta Energias, Universitad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain; Dept. of Mat. Sci. and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; Dipto. Sci. Chimiche, Fisiche M., dell\’Università dell\’Insubria, Sezione di Milano dell\’INFN, I-22100 Como, Italy; Kamerling Onnes Laboratory, Leiden University, 2300 RAQ, Leiden, Netherlands; Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, I-35020 Legnaro (Padova), Italy; Piazza della Scienza 3, I-20126 Milano, Italy; Lab. de Fis. Nucl. Y Altas Energias, University of Zaragoza, Spain

Abstract: The first results are reported on the limit for neutrinoless double decay of 130Te obtained with the new bolometric experiment CUORICINO. The set-up consists of 44 cubic crystals of natural TeO2, 5 cm on the side and 18 crystals of 3×3×6 cm3. Four of these latter crystals are made with isotopically enriched materials: two in 128Te and two others in 130Te. With a sensitive mass of ~40 kg, our array is by far the most massive running cryogenic detector to search for rare events. The array is operated at a temperature of ~10 mK in a dilution refrigerator under a heavy shield in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory at a depth of about 3500 m.w.e. The counting rate in the region of neutrinoless double beta decay is ~0.2 counts keV-1kg-1y -1, among the lowest in this type of experiment. No evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay is found with the present statistics obtained in about three months with a live time of 72%. The corresponding lower limit for the lifetime of this process is of 5.5×1023 years at 90% C.L. The corresponding limit for the effective neutrino mass ranges between 0.37 to 1.9 eV depending on the theoretically calculated nuclear matrix elements used. This constraint is the most restrictive one except those obtained with Ge diodes, and is comparable to them.

Journal/Review: PHYSICS LETTERS B

Volume: 584 (3-4)      Pages from: 260  to: 268

More Information: Thanks are due to the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso for generous hospitality and to C. Callegaro, R. Gaigher, G. Nisi, P. Nuvolone, S. Parmeggiano, M. Perego, B. Romualdi and A. Rotilio for continuous and constructive help in various stages of this experiment. Measurements with ICPMS on many components of our setup were carried out by C. Barbante of the Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali dell\’Università di Venezia and by his collaborators, whom we deeply thank. We also gratefully acknowledge contributions of L. Zanotti in the first stage of our cryogenic activity in Gran Sasso. This experiment has been partly supported by the Commission of European Communities under contracts FMRX-CT98-03167 and HPRN-CT-2002-00322, by the US Department of Energy under Contract number DE-AC03-76 SF000 98 and by the National Science Foundation.
KeyWords: isotope; oxygen derivative; tellurium, article; calculation; calorimetry; crystal; dilution; diode; experiment; laboratory; mass; materials; neutrino; refrigerator; temperature; theory; time
DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2004.01.040

Citations: 99
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