Germanium Detector Array: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:23, 15 November 2014

Revision as of 00:42, 28 November 2014

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The GERmanium Detector Array ('''GERDA''') experiment is searching for [[neutrinoless double beta decay]](0vββ) in Ge-76 at the underground Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). Neutrinoless beta decay is expected to be a very rare process if possible. The collocation predicts less than one event each year per kilogram of material. Background shielding is required to detect any rare decays.

ItThe experiment uses high purity enriched Ge crystal diodes as a decay source and particle detector. The detectors from the HdM and Igex experiments were reprocessed and used in GERDA. The detector array is suspended by strings in a liquid argon cryostat lined with copper and surrounded by an ultra-pure water tank. PMTs in the water tank and plastic scintillators above detect and exclude background muons.

== Results ==

Phase I collected data November 2011 to May 2013, with 21.6 kg·yr exposure, obtaining a 0vββ 90% CL half-life limit: T

<sub>0vββ</submath>T_{0 \nu \beta \beta} > 2.1×101*10^25{21} yr </math>. This limit can be combined with previous results, disfavoring the Heidelberg-Moscow experiment claim. A double beta decay half-life was also measured: T_2vββ = (1.84^+0.14_−0.10)·10²¹ yr.

Phase II will have additional enriched Ge detectors and reduced background.

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[[Category:Experiments]]

[[Category:Neutrino experiments]]

[[Category:Particle experiments]]