Results on neutrinoless double beta decay of 76 Ge from GERDA Phase I

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Home Search Collections Journals About Contact us My IOPscience Results on neutrinoless double beta decay of 76 Ge from GERDA Phase I This content has been downloaded from IOPscience. Please scroll down to see the full text. 05 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 606 0006 (http://iopscience.iop.org/7-6596/606//0006) View the table of contents for this issue, or go to the journal homepage for more Download details: IP Address:.69..70 This content was downloaded on 09/0/06 at :0 Please note that terms and conditions apply.

nd Workshop on Germanium Detectors and Technologies Journal of Physics: Conference Series 606 (05) 0006 doi:.88/7-6596/606//0006 Results on neutrinoless double beta decay of 76 Ge from GERDA Phase I Dimitrios Palioselitis on behalf of the GERDA collaboration Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, München, Germany E-mail: dimitris@mpp.mpg.de Abstract. The Germanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment is searching for the neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay of 76 Ge by operating bare germanium diodes in liquid argon. GERDA is located at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) in Italy. During Phase I, a total exposure of.6 kg yr and a background index of 0.0 cts/(kev kg yr) were reached. No signal was observed and a lower limit of T 0ν / >. 5 yr (90% C.L.) is derived for the half life of the 0νββ decay of 76 Ge.. Introduction Neutrino accompanied double beta (νββ) decay is a second order weak process predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. This decay has been observed for several isotopes and the experimentally determined half-lives lie in the range of 9 to years [, ]. Neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay is a process that violates lepton number conservation by two units, and its observation would indicate physics beyond the Standard Model [,, 5]. Furthermore, it would prove that neutrinos have a Majorana mass component. This process has not been observed so far and the half-life limits set on 0νββ decay for 76 Ge lie in the range of (.6.9) 5 years [6, 7, 8]. In 00, part of the HdM collaboration claimed an observation of 0νββ decay [9], reporting a half-life of T/ 0ν = (.9+0.7 0. ) 5 years. The experimental signature of 0νββ decay is a monoenergetic peak of the sum electron kinetic energy at the Q- value of the decay, Q ββ = 09 kev, above the continuous energy spectrum of the νββ decay. The GERDA experiment is introduced in section. The results from GERDA Phase I are summarised in the following sections. The measurement of the half-life of νββ decay, the modelling of the background energy spectrum and the background discrimination methods are discussed in sections, and 5, respectively. The result on the search of 0νββ decay is presented in section 6. The status of the ongoing transition to Phase II is presented in section 7.. The GERDA experiment The GERDA experiment searches for the 0νββ decay of 76 Ge []. The experiment is located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy. GERDA operates bare germanium diodes inside liquid argon (LAr) which serves as a coolant and as shielding. The array of germanium detectors is suspended inside a stainless steel cryostat filled with 6 m of LAr. The cryostat is located inside a water tank that contains 590 m of high purity water, moderating Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Published under licence by Ltd

nd Workshop on Germanium Detectors and Technologies Journal of Physics: Conference Series 606 (05) 0006 doi:.88/7-6596/606//0006 Figure. An artist s view of the GERDA detector. The array of germanium detectors (), the LAr cryostat (), the internal copper shield (), the water tank (), the clean room (5) and the lock system (6) are indicated. Taken from []. ambient neutrons and gamma radiation. The water tank is instrumented with 66 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and operates as a C erenkov muon veto reducing the cosmic induced background index to less than cts/(kev kg yr) []. The rate of events coincident between the germanium detectors and the GERDA muon veto system is (9. ± 0.) 5 /s []. The detector strings are lowered into the cryostat from the clean room, located above the GERDA tank. An artist s view of the experimental setup is shown in figure. Two types of detectors were used during GERDA Phase I. Eight p-type high purity germanium (HPGe) semi-coaxial detectors from the HdM [6] and IGEX [7] experiments were refurbished and used as the main GERDA Phase I detectors. They have an n+ conductive lithium layer and a boron implanted p+ contact, separated by a groove. They are enriched to 86% in 76 Ge and have a total mass of 7 kg. Additionally, 0 enriched p-type broad energy germanium (BEGe) detectors were produced and will be used in Phase II of the experiment [, ]. Five of them were already deployed in GERDA during Phase I. Their total mass is.6 kg. The data collected during Phase I, from November 0 until May 0, correspond to 9 days and a total exposure of.6 kg yr. The average duty cycle is 88%. The data were divided into three datasets. The golden coaxial dataset with an exposure of 7.9 kg yr contains all data taken with the enriched semi-coaxial detectors with the exception of a short period of approximately 0 days. This was due to increased activity after the insertion of the five BEGe detectors. This dataset, referred to as silver coaxial dataset, corresponds to. kg yr. The BEGe dataset consists of data taken with the BEGe detectors and has an exposure of. kg yr. Regular calibration runs were taken on a weekly basis, using a 8 Th source, in order to determine the energy scale of the individual detectors. The energy shift between successive calibrations is less than kev at Qββ. This is due to gain drifts of the readout chain []. The mean exposure-weighted energy resolutions for the GERDA detectors are.8 ± 0. kev for the semi-coaxial detectors and. ± 0. kev for the BEGe detectors.. Measurement of the νββ decay half-life The measurement of the half-life of the neutrino accompanied double beta decay of 76 Ge by GERDA corresponds to an exposure of 5.0 kg yr [5]. The observed energy spectrum between 600 and 800 kev is dominated by the neutrino accompanied double beta decay of 76 Ge. The signal-to-background ratio in this energy range is on average :. A global model was fitted to the observed energy spectra above the cosmogenic 9 Ar background, which dominates the energy spectrum below 565 kev. The model contains the νββ decay of 76 Ge and three independent background contributions from K, uniformly distributed in liquid argon, as well as Bi and

nd Workshop on Germanium Detectors and Technologies Journal of Physics: Conference Series 606 (05) 0006 doi:.88/7-6596/606//0006 events/(0 kev) events/(0 kev) data/model ratio 500 experimental energy spectrum model νββ 68% K 00 0 K Bi 00 00 0.5 data/model.0 68% 95%.5 99.9%.0 0.5 600 800 00 00 00 600 800 GERDA - Figure. Upper and middle panels: experimental data (markers) and the best fit model (black histogram) in linear and logarithmic scale. Individual components are shown with coloured histograms. The shaded band covers the 68% probability range for the data, calculated from the expected counts of the best fit model. Lower panel: ratio between the experimental data and the best fit model, shown with the smallest intervals containing 68%, 95% and 99.9% probability for the ratio assuming the best fit parameters. Taken from [5]. T / ( yr)..0.8.6...0 ITEP-YPI PNL-USC PNL-USC-ITEP-YPI PNL-USC-ITEP-YPI HdM IGEX HdM HdM-K HdM-B GERDA - GERDA this work [] Barabash Figure. Experimental results for the halflife of the neutrino accompanied double beta decay, T/ ν, of 76 Ge versus publication year. Taken from [5]. 0.8 NNDC 990 995 000 005 0 publication year 0 K from close sources. The presence of these sources is established by the observation of their characteristic gamma lines. Possible contributions from other background components were included in the systematic uncertainties. The spectral fit has free parameters, the νββ half-life, the detector masses and enrichment fractions and the background contributions. The experimental energy spectrum together with the best fit model and the individual spectral contributions are shown in figure. The ratio between experimental data and the prediction of the best fit model is shown in the lower panel. The green, yellow and red regions are the smallest intervals containing 68%, 95% and 99.9% probability for the ratio, respectively, assuming the best fit parameters. After marginalising over all nuisance parameters, the best half-life estimate is T/ ν = (.8 +0. 0. ) yr. This result is shown in figure, together with previous publications and two weighted averages. The value reported by GERDA is longer than the previous measurements. There is a tendency towards higher values for more recent measurements. This is probably related to the improved signal-to-background ratio, which reduces the relevance of background

nd Workshop on Germanium Detectors and Technologies Journal of Physics: Conference Series 606 (05) 0006 doi:.88/7-6596/606//0006 counts/(5 kev) counts/(5 kev) counts/(5 kev) 9 - Ar β νββ νββ 9 - Ar β K-0 6 kev K-0 6 kev K- 55 kev K- 55 kev Bi- 765 kev Bi- 0 kev Tl-08 65 kev enriched coaxials, 6.70 kg yr 6 Ra Po Rn 8 Po enriched BEGes,.80 kg yr natural GTF,. kg yr α GERDA-05 GERDA-05 GERDA-05 - - - cts/(kev kg yr) cts/(kev kg yr) yr) kg cts/(kev Figure. Energy spectra taken with all the enriched semi-coaxial (top), BEGe (middle) and non-enriched (bottom) detectors. The green band indicates the blinded region of 0 kev around Q ββ. The bars in the colour of the histogram around the blinded region indicate the 00 kev window used to determine the background index of each dataset. Taken from []. - 0 00 000 000 000 5000 6000 7000 modelling and subtraction.. Background modelling for GERDA Phase I A good understanding of the background is important in order to extract a possible 0νββ signal or to obtain a limit on the half-life of the process in case no signal events are observed. A background model was developed, prior to the 0νββ analysis, to describe the observed energy spectrum using data corresponding to an exposure of 8.5 kg yr []. The model contains several contributions that are either expected after material screening or established through the observation of characteristic structures in the energy spectrum. The energy spectra for the enriched semi-coaxial detectors, the BEGe detectors and one non-enriched detector are shown in figure. The low energy part, up to 565 kev, is dominated by the beta decay of cosmogenic 9 Ar. Between 600 and 500 kev the spectra of the enriched detectors are dominated by the νββ decay of 76 Ge. Gamma lines from the decays of 0 K and K can be identified in all spectra. Gamma lines from 60 Co, 08 Tl, Bi, Pb and 8 Ac are visible in the spectra of the enriched semi-coaxial detectors. A peak-like structure around 5. MeV in the spectrum of the enriched semi-coaxial detectors can be attributed to the decay of Po on the detector p+ surfaces. Further peak-like structures at energies of.7, 5. and 5.9 MeV can be attributed to the alpha decays of 6 Ra, Rn and 8 Po on the detector p+ surface, respectively. A 0 kev window around Q ββ was kept blinded during the analysis. The background model was obtained by fitting the simulated spectra of different contributions to the measured energy spectrum using a Bayesian approach. The high energy part of the spectrum between.5 and 7.5 MeV, above the Q-value of K, was analysed first, providing a best fit for the alpha induced spectrum. This result was used along with other contributions to establish a model covering the energy range from 570 to 7500 kev. The main contributions at Q ββ come from K (uniform in LAr), 60 Co (in germanium and on the detector assembly), Bi (on the detector assembly and p+ surface), 08 Tl (on the detector assembly), as well as alpha events from surface contamination and Rn in LAr. Figure 5 shows the best fit model in black, together with the observed counts and the individual background contributions considered in the high energy alpha fit, for the golden coaxial dataset. Figure 6 shows the best fit model in black, together with the observed counts and the individual background contributions considered in the global fit, for the golden coaxial dataset. In the lower panels, the ratios of data and model are shown together with the smallest intervals of 68%, 95% and 99.9% probability for the model expectation.

nd Workshop on Germanium Detectors and Technologies Journal of Physics: Conference Series 606 (05) 0006 doi:.88/7-6596/606//0006 events/(50 kev) data/model ratio - GOLD-coax data model Po on surface 6 Ra & daughters on surface 6 Ra & daughters in LAr 5 data/model 68% 95% 99.9% 0 000 5000 6000 7000 GERDA -0 Figure 5. Experimental data (markers) and the best alpha model fit (black line) for the golden coaxial dataset. The lower panel shows the ratio between data and model, as well as the 68%, 95% and 99.9% probabilities for the ratios assuming the best fit parameters. Taken from []. events/(0 kev) data/model ratio 0.8 GOLD-coax. data/model 68%. 95% 99.9%.0 600 800 00 00 00 600 GERDA -0 events/(0 kev) data/model ratio data model - νββ K K0 Ac8 Th8 Alphas Co60H Co60inGe BiH BiP - 5 data/model 68% 95% 99.9% 0 000 500 000 500 GERDA -0 Figure 6. Experimental data (markers) and the best fit minimum model (black line) for the golden coaxial dataset. Individual background contributions are shown separately. In the legend, inge, H and P, refer to contributions from the germanium detectors, the holders and the p+ surface, respectively. The lower panels show the ratio between data and model, as well as the 68%, 95% and 99.9% probabilities for the ratios assuming the best fit parameters. Taken from []. Two models were constructed for the background description, a minimal model consisting of well-motivated contributions (see figure 6) and a maximum model consisting of various additional contributions. They are shown in figure 7 together with the experimentally observed counts for the golden coaxial dataset. Both models show a good agreement with the data and their p-values do not favour one model over the other. A partial unblinding was performed in order to confirm the validity of the background model. A kev window for the semi-coaxial detectors and an 8 kev window for the BEGe detectors around Q ββ remained blinded for the 0νββ analysis. The partially unblinded data are shown in light grey in figure 7. The agreement of the model with the data after the partial unblinding is satisfactory. It is important to note that the spectrum between 90 and 90 kev can be modelled with a flat background, shown in the lower panels of figure 7. The background index at the region of interest is (7.6.8) cts/kev kg yr before applying any pulse shape discrimination algorithms. 5. Pulse shape discrimination analysis The experimental sensitivity can be improved by analysing the pulse shapes of the detector signals with the aim of rejecting background events. Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) is therefore used to separate single-site (SSE) from multi-site (MSE) events. The signature of 5

nd Workshop on Germanium Detectors and Technologies Journal of Physics: Conference Series 606 (05) 0006 doi:.88/7-6596/606//0006 events/kev data UB data model νββ Alphas Bi H Bi p+ Th8 H Ac8 H K LAr K0 H Co60 H Co60 Ge GERDA -06 events/kev data UB data model νββ Alphas Bi H Bi p+ Th8 H Ac8 H K LAr K0 H Co60 H Co60 Ge K p+ K n+ Bi LAr Bi S Th8 HE Th8 S Ac8 S GERDA -06 - - - -.0.0 0.5 0.5 90 960 980 000 00 00 060 080 0 0 0 60 80 90 960 980 000 00 00 060 080 0 0 0 60 80 Figure 7. Experimental spectrum with the minimum (left) and maximum (right) background model around Q ββ for the golden coaxial dataset. The upper panels show the experimental data (grey histograms) with the individual background contributions considered in the fit (coloured histograms). The light grey histogram corresponds to the partially unblinded data, not used for the modelling of the background. The lower panels show the best fit models fitted with a constant. In the legend, the following abbreviations are used for the location of the background contributions: H: detector holders, p+: p+ contact, LAr: uniform in liquid argon, Ge: inside the germanium crystal, n+: n+ surface, S: radon shroud, HE: heat exchanger. Taken from []. Figure 8. Cross section of a semi-coaxial (top) and a BEGe (bottom) detector. The n+ electrode is drawn in black and the p+ electrode in grey. The weighting potential inside the detector crystals is indicated through a colour map. Taken from [6]. a double beta decay is a SSE, i.e. the energy is deposited in a single location in the detector. On the other hand, MSEs, e.g. from multiple Compton scattering, deposit energy in well separated locations in the detector. Different PSD techniques were used for the semi-coaxial and the BEGe detectors [6]. This is due to the different geometries and, hence, different electric field distributions of the detectors. The cross sections of a semi-coaxial and a BEGe detector, along with the corresponding weighting potentials, are shown in figure 8. For the semi-coaxial detectors a neural network approach was utilised, where the rising part of the charge pulse was used for the network analysis. For the BEGe detectors a mono-parametric A/E method was implemented, where A corresponds to the maximum of the current pulse and E is the reconstructed energy. For MSEs, the current pulses of the charges from different locations will have different drift times and, hence, more time-separated current pulses. Therefore, for the same total energy, E, the maximum amplitude, 6

nd Workshop on Germanium Detectors and Technologies Journal of Physics: Conference Series 606 (05) 0006 doi:.88/7-6596/606//0006 Figure 9. Energy spectrum of the semi-coaxial (left) and BEGe (right) detectors with (filled histogram) and without (open histogram) PSD selection. The blinded window is indicated with a green band. Taken from [6]. counts/kev counts/( kev) 0 8 6 0 05 00 05 00 05 050 055 060 90 kev 09 kev ββ Q background interpolation 900 950 000 050 0 50 00 energy [kev] 90 kev Bi 0 kev Figure. Energy spectrum around Q ββ for all enriched germanium detectors with (filled) and without (open) PSD. The red dashed line corresponds to the expectation from [9] and the blue solid line is the 90% C.L. upper limit derived from the GERDA 0νββ analysis. The lower panel shows the energy region used for the background interpolation. Taken from [7]. A, will be smaller for MSEs. As a proxy of SSEs, events from the double-escape peak (DEP) at 59 kev from the 6 kev line of 08 Tl are used. Events in the full energy line of Bi at 6 kev are mostly MSEs and are used as the background sample. More information on pulse shapes from semi-coaxial and BEGe detectors and about the details of the analysis can be found in [6]. Figure 9 shows the result of the PSD methods applied to data for the semi-coaxial and the BEGe detectors. The events surviving the PSD selection are shown in grey. The neural network method has a 0νββ acceptance of 90% while it rejects approximately half of the background around Q ββ. The A/E method has an efficiency of 9% and rejects 80% of the background events around Q ββ. On νββ events, the methods have an efficiency of 85% and 9% for the semi-coaxial and BEGe detectors, respectively. 6. Results on neutrinoless double beta decay of 76 Ge The combined energy spectrum from all enriched germanium detectors around the region of interest after unblinding is shown in figure, before (open histogram) and after (filled histogram) PSD selection. The energy region used for the background interpolation is shown in the lower panel. After opening the blinded window, no excess of events was found above the expected background. Two analyses were performed to derive the lower limit for the half-life of 0νββ of 76 Ge. The baseline analysis was a frequentist analysis, where a profile likelihood fit was performed to the datasets using a common half-life. The fit function was the sum of a constant term for the background and a gaussian term for the signal. The best fit corresponded to 7

nd Workshop on Germanium Detectors and Technologies Journal of Physics: Conference Series 606 (05) 0006 doi:.88/7-6596/606//0006 6 0ν T / ( 76 Ge) [yr] 5 Ge combined GERDA Phase I claim (00) 68% C.L. ISM EDF IBM- pnqrpa SRQRPA-B SRQRPA-A QRPA-B QRPA-A SkM-HFB-QRPA EXO-00 KamLAND-Zen 5 0ν T / ( 6 Xe) [yr] 6 Xe combined Figure. Limits (90% C.L.) on T/ 0ν of 76 Ge and 6 Xe [0, ] compared to the signal claim for 76 Ge. The shaded grey bands are the predictions for the correlation of the half-lives for the two isotopes according to different nuclear matrix elements calculations. Taken from [7]. zero counts and an upper limit of.5 counts. The derived lower limit for the half-life of 0νββ is T 0ν / >. 5 yr at 90% confidence level, including the systematic uncertainty. The corresponding median sensitivity for the 90% C.L. limit is T 0ν / >. 5 yr. A second, Bayesian analysis was performed, using a flat prior on the inverse half-life in the 0 yr range. The best fit was again zero counts corresponding to a lower limit of T 0ν / >.9 5 yr at 90% credible interval. The median sensitivity is T 0ν / >.0 5 yr. The profile likelihood fit was also extended to include the energy spectra from IGEX and HdM experiments, giving a lower limit of T 0ν / >.0 5 yr at 90% confidence level. Constant background for all five datasets and gaussian peaks with a common half-life were assumed. In order to compare the GERDA result with the signal claim, a hypothesis test was performed. The expected number of counts for the background only hypothesis, H 0, is ± 0. in the ±σ window around Q ββ. As an alternative hypothesis, H, the claimed signal corresponding to a half-life of T 0ν / =.9 5 yr plus a background was considered, corresponding to 5.9 ±. expected counts. In figure, the exposure corrected expectation according to the signal claim is shown in dotted red line together with the lower limit derived from the GERDA analysis in blue. The number of observed counts is. Assuming the model H, the probability to obtain zero counts as the best fit from the profile likelihood analysis is 0.0. Also the Bayes factor, i.e. the ratio of the probabilities of the two models P (H )/P (H 0 ), computed with the GERDA result alone as well as with the combined result is 0.0 and, respectively, therefore the claim is strongly disfavoured. This comparison is restricted to the result of [9] and not [8], due to inconsistencies in the latter, pointed out in [9]. A comparison to the recent limits on the half-life of 6 Xe from KamLAND-Zen [0] and EXO- 00 [] is possible, assuming that the leading mechanism is the exchange of a light Majorana neutrino. The experimental results, the claimed signal and the different NME calculations are shown in figure. 7. GERDA Phase II GERDA Phase II aims to improve the half-life sensitivity by another order of magnitude. The sensitivity as a function of the exposure for different background levels is shown in figure. An 8

nd Workshop on Germanium Detectors and Technologies Journal of Physics: Conference Series 606 (05) 0006 doi:.88/7-6596/606//0006 y] 5 [ / 90% prob. lower limit T 0 5 0 5 5 0 No background - counts/(kg y kev) - counts/(kg y kev) - counts/(kg y kev) Claim Phase II Phase I 0 50 0 50 00 Exposure [kg years] Figure. Sensitivity as a function of the exposure for different background cases. The lines corresponding to the background index of Phase I and Phase II are indicated on the figure. Taken from []. order of magnitude improvement on the 0νββ half-life sensitivity is expected in approximately 5 years. The size of the detector array is increased to 7 strings. The detectors are assembled in a dry nitrogen atmosphere. The new cable chain is made of selected stainless steel of low radioactivity. The Phase II cables exhibit more than a factor of lower 8 Th and 6 Ra activities compared to Phase I cables. The liquid argon will be instrumented with a scintillation background veto system. PMT arrays are installed above and below the detector array. Silicon photomultipliers coupled to wavelength shifting fibres surround the detector array. They will provide increased background reduction capability by detecting scintillation light in liquid argon. Pulse shape analysis in combination with the liquid argon veto provide a suppression factor of 5. at Q ββ for a close 8 Th source. For Phase II, 0 new BEGe detectors were produced. A significant amount of copper and PTFE, for the detector modules, has been replaced by intrinsically radio pure silicon. The energy resolution (FWHM) of the detectors was determined with a 60 Co source to be less than.9 kev at. MeV in vacuum. In addition, the A/E pulse shape discrimination, described in section 5, is a robust, simple and well-understood method of background rejection that was successfully implemented during Phase I. Finally, careful handling of the detectors during manufacturing and transportation insures a very low background contribution from 60 Co and 68 Ge due to cosmogenic activation. 8. Conclusions Phase I of the GERDA experiment was completed successfully and the design goals were reached. A total exposure of.6 kg yr was accumulated. The background index at Q ββ after pulse shape analysis was 0.0 cts/kev kg yr. A blinded analysis looking for the 0νββ decay of 76 Ge was performed. No signal was observed and the most competitive limit on the half-life of this process for 76 Ge was derived, strongly disfavouring the long standing claim of 0νββ signal observation. The transition to GERDA Phase II is ongoing. An additional 0 kg of detector mass will be deployed. The new custom-made BEGe detectors have an excellent pulse shape discrimination capability and a subset of them was tested successfully during Phase I. A liquid argon instrumentation surrounding the detector array will be utilised for further background reduction. The background target of GERDA Phase II is cts/kev kg yr, which will allow 9

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