A measurement of the 2 neutrino double beta decay rate of Te-130 in the CUORICINO experiment (open access)

A measurement of the 2 neutrino double beta decay rate of Te-130 in the CUORICINO experiment

CUORICINO was a cryogenic bolometer experiment designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay and other rare processes, including double beta decay with two neutrinos (2{nu}{beta}{beta}). The experiment was located at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso and ran for a period of about 5 years, from 2003 to 2008. The detector consisted of an array of 62 TeO{sub 2} crystals arranged in a tower and operated at a temperature of #24;10 mK. Events depositing energy in the detectors, such as radioactive decays or impinging particles, produced thermal pulses in the crystals which were read out using sensitive thermistors. The experiment included 4 enriched crystals, 2 enriched with {sup 130}Te and 2 with {sup 128}Te, in order to aid in the measurement of the 2{nu}{beta}{beta} rate. The enriched crystals contained a total of #24;350 g {sup 130}Te. The 128-enriched (130-depleted) crystals were used as background monitors, so that the shared backgrounds could be subtracted from the energy spectrum of the 130- enriched crystals. Residual backgrounds in the subtracted spectrum were fit using spectra generated by Monte-Carlo simulations of natural radioactive contaminants located in and on the crystals. The 2{nu}{beta}{beta} half-life was measured to be T{sup 2{nu}}{sub 1/2} = [9.81{+-} #6;0.96(stat){+-} 0.49(syst)]#2;x10{sup …
Date: November 3, 2011
Creator: Kogler, Laura
System: The UNT Digital Library