The Germanium Detector Array for the Search of Neutrinoless Ββ Decays of 76Ge at LNGS
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Gerda The GERmanium Detector Array for the search of neutrinoless ββ decays of 76Ge at LNGS Proposal to the LNGS P38/04 September 2004 Gerda The GERmanium Detector Array for the search of neutrinoless ββ decays of 76Ge at LNGS I. Abt j, M. Altmann j, A.M. Bakalyarov i, I. Barabanov g, C. Bauer c, M. Bauer l, E. Bellotti f , S. Belogurov g,h, S.T. Belyaev i, A. Bettini k, L. Bezrukov g, V. Brudanin b, C. B¨uttner j, V.P. Bolotsky h, A. Caldwell j, C. Cattadori a,f , M.V. Chirchenko i, O. Chkvorets c, H. Clement l, E. Demidova h, A. Di Vacri a, J. Eberth d, V. Egorov b, E. Farnea k, A. Gangapshev g, G.Y. Grigoriev i, V. Gurentsov g, K. Gusev b, W. Hampel c, G. Heusser c, W. Hofmann c, L.V. Inzhechik i, J. Jochum l, M. Junker a, S. Katulina b, J. Kiko c, I.V. Kirpichnikov h, A. Klimenko b,g, K.T. Kn¨opfle c, O. Kochetov b, V.N. Kornoukhov g,h, R. Kotthaus j, V. Kusminov g, M. Laubenstein a, V.I. Lebedev i, X. Liu j, H.-G. Moser j, I. Nemchenok b, L. Pandola a, P. Peiffer c, R.H. Richter j, K. Rottler l, C. Rossi Alvarez k, V. Sandukovsky b, S. Sch¨onert c, S. Scholl l, J. Schreiner c, B. Schwingenheuer c, H. Simgen c, A. Smolnikov b,g, A.V. Tikhomirov i, C. Tomei a, C.A. Ur k, A.A. Vasenko h, S. Vasiliev b,g, D. Weißhaar d, M. Wojcik e, E. Yanovich g, J. Yurkowski b, S.V. Zhukov i, G. Zuzelc a INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi, Italy b Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia c Max-Planck-Institut f¨urKernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany d Institut f¨urKernphysik, Universit¨atK¨oln,Germany e Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland f Universit`adi Milano Bicocca e INFN Milano, Milano, Italy g Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia h Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow, Russia i Russian Research Center Kurchatov Institute, Moscow, Russia j Max-Planck-Institut f¨urPhysik, M¨unchen, Germany k Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Universit`adi Padova e INFN Padova, Padova, Italy l Physikalisches Institut, Universit¨at T¨ubingen, Germany Contact Persons: C. Cattadori ( [email protected] ) S. Sch¨onert, ( [email protected] ) 2 Contents 1 Overview and executive summary 5 2 Introduction and experimental overview 9 2.1 Introduction . 9 2.2 Past and present experiments . 11 2.3 Proposed and suggested future experiments . 11 2.4 Dark Matter experiments . 13 3 Performance 15 3.1 General design considerations . 15 3.2 Background sources of the Heidelberg-Moscow experiment . 15 3.3 Background simulations . 17 3.3.1 The internal background from cosmogenic isotopes . 18 3.3.2 External backgrounds . 19 3.4 Background reduction techniques . 27 3.5 Background summary . 29 3.6 Performance with instrumented shield for LAr . 30 3.7 Performance for dark matter search . 33 3.7.1 Backgrounds . 33 3.7.2 Summary . 36 4 Physics reach 38 4.1 Phase I . 38 4.2 Phase II . 39 5 Simulation studies and plans 40 6 Technical aspects of the experiment 43 6.1 Overview . 43 6.2 Cryogenic and water vessel system . 44 6.2.1 General considerations . 44 6.2.2 Baseline design . 45 6.2.3 Alternative design . 51 6.2.4 Backup design . 52 6.2.5 Conclusions . 54 6.3 Platform, cleanroom and lock . 55 6.4 Detector suspension . 57 6.5 The muon veto system . 61 6.5.1 Plastic scintillator muon detectors . 61 6.5.2 Water Cherenkov muon detector . 62 6.6 Electronic readout . 67 6.7 Data acquisition and Slow Control . 70 3 6.8 The LArGe Test Bench . 70 6.8.1 Instrumentation of liquid argon . 72 6.9 Rn-reduced air . 74 6.10 Water purification . 75 6.11 Liquid gas storage . 76 7 Fabrication of enriched detectors 77 7.1 Procurement of enriched 76Ge ......................... 77 7.2 Purification and production of metallic 76Ge . 77 7.3 Quality control of enriched 76Ge........................ 78 7.4 Crystal and detector fabrication . 79 7.5 Detector Optimization . 81 7.6 Long term R&D for Phase III . 82 8 Radiopurity assessment 84 8.1 Gas purification . 84 8.1.1 Purity requirements . 84 8.1.2 Adsorption technique . 85 8.2 Germanium spectroscopy . 86 8.3 Radon monitoring . 87 8.3.1 222Rn measurements with proportional counters . 88 8.3.2 Online radon monitoring in gases . 89 8.4 Noble gas mass spectrometry . 89 8.4.1 Argon and krypton in nitrogen gas . 90 8.4.2 Krypton in argon gas . 90 8.5 ICPMS and neutron activation analysis . 91 9 Safety and Environment 92 10 Time schedule and milestones 96 11 Institutional responsibilities 100 12 Requests to Lngs 103 13 Structure of the collaboration 106 References 108 4 1 Overview and executive summary We propose the Gerda experiment, the GERmanium Detector Array for the search of neutrinoless double beta decay of 76Ge. In the experiment germanium detectors made out of isotopically enriched material will be operated inside a cryogenic fluid shield. The facility would be located in Hall A of the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Lngs) and would serve a dual purpose: • The experiment would probe the neutrinoless double beta decay of 76Ge with a sen- 26 sitivity of T1/2 > 2 · 10 years at 90% confidence level (C.L.) corresponding to a range of the effective neutrino mass of <0.09 - 0.29 eV within ∼ 3 years, thereby scrutinizing, with high statistical significance, the recent claim for evidence for neu- trinoless double beta decay [Kla 04]. Existing enriched detectors from the previous Heidelberg-Moscow and Igex experiments as well as a new set of detectors will be used. • In addition the proposed experiment would be a pioneering low-level facility which would demonstrate the possibility of reducing backgrounds by 2-3 orders of magnitude below the current state-of-the-art; it would represent a major step on the way towards an ultimate 76Ge double beta decay experiments aiming for a sensitivity in the 10 meV mass range. The physics case. Since their discovery neutrinos have been an object of extensive experimental study and the knowledge about their properties has advanced our understand- ing of weak interactions significantly. Still unanswered, however, is the very fundamental question whether the neutrino is a Majorana particle like most extensions of the Standard Model assume. The study of double beta decay is the most sensitive approach to answer this question. If the decay occurs without the emission of neutrinos then their Majorana nature is proven. The potential of this method has increased considerably during the last years since a non-zero mass of the neutrinos has been established by the observation of neutrino flavor oscillation. In fact, the observation of neutrinoless double beta decay would not only establish the Majorana nature of the neutrino but also provide a measurement of 2 2 2 its effective mass mee = | |Ue1| m1 + |Ue2| m2 exp (iα2) + |Ue3| m3 exp (iα3) | where the Uei are the mixing matrix elements between the flavor eigenstate e and the mass eigenstate i, mi the mass eigenvalues, and α2,3 the CP violating phases due to the Majorana nature of the neutrino. The experimental situation. Double beta decay experiments search for nuclear decays − (A, Z) → (A, Z + 2) + 2e + 2¯νe where single beta decay is energetically forbidden. The neutrinoless reaction is only possible if neutrinos are Majorana particles. There is a long history of searches for neutrinoless double beta decay. The best lifetime limits come from 76 25 the above mentioned experiments with the isotope Ge, and it is T1/2 > 1.9 · 10 years. Using calculations for nuclear matrix elements, lifetime limits can be used to constrain mee. Variations in the calculations introduce about a factor of three uncertainty in the mass limit. The current best limit is mee < 0.33 − 1.3 eV . 5 Recent evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay has been claimed by the group of Klapdor-Kleingrothaus [Kla 04], with a lifetime of about 1.2 · 1025 years. Using more conservative errors for the matrix element calculations a mass range of mee = 0.1−0.9 eV is derived. The ongoing experiments Cuoricino and Nemo3 have in principal the sensitivity to confirm the neutrinoless double beta decay signal with 130Te and 100Mo. However, in case of a null result, they can not refute the claim because of the nuclear matrix element uncertainties involved. The Katrin experiment would also see a signal for an effective electron neutrino masses above 0.2 eV. Experimental considerations. The parameters determining the sensitivity of a neutri- noless double beta decay experiment are the mass of the relevant isotope, M, the running time, T , and the background index B (usually quoted in units of cts/(keV·kg·y)) in the relevant energy range. The kinetic energy spectrum of the outgoing electrons is measured, and the number of events in the window Q ± δE is evaluated. In the case where no events 1/2 are found, then the mee limit scales as 1/(M ·T ) . Once non-zero background is observed, 1/4 then the mee limit varies as a · [(B · δE)/(M · T )] , with a being the fraction of enriched isotopes. A high sensitivity experiment will clearly need maximum detector mass as well as very small backgrounds. We consider germanium as a good choice for such an experiment.