16–21 Oct 2022
PSI
Europe/Zurich timezone

Searching for 76Ge neutrinoless double-beta decay with GERDA and beyond

18 Oct 2022, 17:21
1m
WHGA / Foyer and Tent (PSI)

WHGA / Foyer and Tent

PSI

Speaker

Sofia Calgaro (University of Padova & INFN Padova)

Description

The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS, Italy) searched for the lepton-number-violating neutrinoless double-beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay of $^{76}$Ge. The potential discovery of such phenomenon would have significant implications in cosmology and particle physics, helping unrevealing the Majorana nature of neutrinos.
The main feature of the GERDA design consisted in operating an array of bare germanium diodes enriched in $^{76}$Ge in an active liquid argon shield. Phase II physics run (December 2015 - November 2019) reached an unprecedentedly low background index of $5.2\times10^{-4}$ counts/(keV kg yr) in the signal region, collecting an exposure of 103.7 kg yr while operating in a background-free regime. No signal was observed after a total exposure of 127.2 kg yr for a combined analysis of Phase I (November 2011 - September 2013) and Phase II data. A lower bound on the half-life of $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay in $^{76}$Ge was set at $T_{1/2}>1.8 \times10^{26}$ yr (90\% C.L.), which coincides with the median expectation under the no signal hypothesis.
This contribution will review the GERDA experiment design together with its final results, also providing an overview of the next Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless $\beta\beta$ Decay (LEGEND) project.

Primary author

Sofia Calgaro (University of Padova & INFN Padova)

Presentation materials