Germanium Detector Array: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:22, 17 January 2015

Revision as of 00:23, 17 January 2015

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{{Underlinked|date=December 2014}}

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.

The experiment uses high purity enriched [[Germanium|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 in a liquid [[argon]] [[cryostat]] lined with copper and surrounded by an ultra-pure water tank. [[Photomultiplier|PMTs]] in the water tank and plastic [[scintillators]] above detect and exclude background [[muons]].