Calendar Details

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Tuesday, February 26

Double Beta Decay, Neutrino Mass, and
the Majorana Project

Steven R. Elliott, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, N.M.
Physics Division Seminar
3:00 PM — 4:00 PM, Building 6008, Conference Room
Contact: Alfredo Galindo-Uribarri (uribarri@ornl.gov), 865.574.6124

Abstract

At least one neutrino has a mass of about 50 meV or larger. However, the absolute mass scale for the neutrino is unknown. Furthermore, the critical question: Is the neutrino its own antiparticle? remains unanswered. Studies of double beta decay offer hope for determining the absolute mass scale. In particular, zero-neutrino double beta decay (0νßß) can address the issues of lepton number conservation, the particle-antiparticle nature of the neutrino, and its mass. The 0νßß half-life of a nucleus is directly related to the neutrino mass. But, due to the smallness of the neutrino mass, the half-life is very long; at least greater than 1025 years. Hence any search for 0νßß must minimize the background of other processes that may take place in a detector and mask the sought-for signal. The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR will search for 0νßß in Ge and is presently under construction at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, SD. This experiment will have a half-life reach beyond 1026 years and is a first step toward a large experiment sensitive to neutrino masses below 50 meV. This presentation will introduce the science of double beta decay with an emphasis on the status of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR.