•A large custom cryogen-free cryostat has been designed and built in order to operate the CUORE detector.•The CUORE cryostat has a 1 m3 experimental volume and is able to host a tonne-scale ...bolometric detector.•The CUORE cryostat guarantees a low noise and low radioactivity environment, needed to search for 0nbb.•The CUORE detector has been cooled down to 8.3 mK and steadily operated at 15 mK, proving the success of the cryostat.
The CUORE experiment is the world’s largest bolometric experiment. The detector consists of an array of 988 TeO2 crystals, for a total mass of 742 kg. CUORE is presently taking data at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy, searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te. A large custom cryogen-free cryostat allows reaching and maintaining a base temperature of ∼10 mK, required for the optimal operation of the detector. This apparatus has been designed in order to achieve a low noise environment, with minimal contribution to the radioactive background for the experiment. In this paper, we present an overview of the CUORE cryostat, together with a description of all its sub-systems, focusing on the solutions identified to satisfy the stringent requirements. We briefly illustrate the various phases of the cryostat commissioning and highlight the relevant steps and milestones achieved each time. Finally, we describe the successful cooldown of CUORE.
The extremely neutron-rich system H6 was studied in the direct H2(He8,He4)H6 transfer reaction with a 26A MeV secondary He8 beam. The measured missing mass spectrum shows a broad bump at ≈4-8 MeV ...above the H3+3n decay threshold. This bump can be interpreted as a broad resonant state in H6 at 6.8(5) MeV. The population cross section of such a presumably p-wave state (or it may be few overlapping states) in the energy range from 4 to 8 MeV is dσ/dωc.m.≃190-80+40μb/sr in the angular range 5°<θc.m.<16°. The obtained missing mass spectrum is practically free of H6 events below 3.5 MeV (dσ/dωc.m. 5μb/sr in the same angular range). The steep rise of the H6 missing mass spectrum at ≈3 MeV allows us to derive the lower limit for the possible resonant-state energy in H6 to be 4.5(3) MeV. According to the paring energy estimates, such a 4.5(3) MeV resonance is a realistic candidate for the H6 ground state (g.s.). The obtained results confirm that the decay mechanism of the H7 g.s. (located at 2.2 MeV above the H3+4n threshold) is the "true"(or simultaneous) 4n emission. The resonance energy profiles and the momentum distributions of fragments of the sequential H6→H5(g.s.)+n→H3+3n decay were analyzed by the theoretically updated direct four-body-decay and sequential-emission mechanisms. The measured momentum distributions of the H3 fragments in the H6 rest frame indicate very strong "dineutron-type"correlations in the H5 ground state decay.
The extremely neutron-rich system H7 was studied in the direct H2(He8,He3)H7 transfer reaction with a 26 AMeV secondary He8 beam Bezbakh et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 022502 ...(2020)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.124.022502. The missing mass spectrum and center-of-mass angular distributions of H7, as well as the momentum distribution of the H3 fragment in the H7 frame, were constructed. In addition, we carried out another experiment with the same beam but a modified setup, which was cross-checked by the study of the H2(Be10,He3)Li9 reaction. A solid experimental evidence is provided that two resonant states of H7 are located in its spectrum at 2.2(5) and 5.5(3)MeV relative to the H3+4n decay threshold. Also, there are indications that the resonant states at 7.5(3) and 11.0(3)MeV are present in the measured H7 spectrum. Based on the energy and angular distributions, obtained for the studied H2(He8,He3)H7 reaction, the weakly populated 2.2(5)-MeV peak is ascribed to the H7 ground state. It is highly plausible that the firmly ascertained 5.5(3)-MeV state is the 5/2+ member of the H7 excitation 5/2+-3/2+ doublet, built on the 2+ configuration of valence neutrons. The supposed 7.5-MeV state can be another member of this doublet, which could not be resolved in Bezbakh et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 022502 (2020)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.124.022502. Consequently, the two doublet members appeared in the spectrum of H7 in the work mentioned above as a single broad 6.5-MeV peak.
The extremely neutron-rich systems 7H, 6H were studied in the 2H(8He, 3He)7H and 2H(8He, 4He)6H proton and deuteron pickup reactions with a 26 AMeV secondary 8He beam produced at the new ACCULINNA-2 ...fragment separator. In addition, the same proton and deuteron pickup reactions were generated using the 42 AMeV 10Be beam, and the population of low-lying 9Li and 8Li states was measured in reactions 2H(10Be,3He)9Li and 2H(10Be,4He)8Li, respectively. The latter were used as reference measurements in order to check the setup calibration over the excitation energy of 7,6H and to determine the real experimental energy resolution which was compared with Monte Carlo calculations. The corresponding results obtained for the superheavy hydrogen systems 7H, 6H are presented and discussed. Typical excitation spectra of the 9Li and 8Li nuclei are also shown.
The H7 system was populated in the H2(He8,He3)H7 reaction with a 26 AMeV He8 beam. The H7 missing mass energy spectrum, the H3 energy and angular distributions in the H7 decay frame were ...reconstructed. The H7 missing mass spectrum shows a peak, which can be interpreted either as unresolved 5/2+ and 3/2+ doublet or one of these states at 6.5(5) MeV. The data also provide indications of the 1/2+ ground state of H7 located at 1.8(5) MeV with quite a low population cross section of ∼25 μb/sr within angular range θc.m.≃(17°-27°).
The extremely neutron-rich systems 7H, 6H were studied in the 2H(8He, 3He)7H and 2H(8He, 4He)6H proton and deuteron pickup reactions with a 26 AMeV secondary 8He beam produced at the new ACCULINNA-2 ...fragment separator. In addition, the same proton and deuteron pickup reactions were generated using the 42 AMeV 10Be beam, and the population of low-lying 9Li and 8Li states was measured in reactions 2H(10Be,3He)9Li and 2H(10Be,4He)8Li, respectively. The latter were used as reference measurements in order to check the setup calibration over the excitation energy of 7,6H and to determine the real experimental energy resolution which was compared with Monte Carlo calculations. The corresponding results obtained for the superheavy hydrogen systems 7H, 6H are presented and discussed. Typical excitation spectra of the 9Li and 8Li nuclei are also shown.
The start of operation of a new separator ACCULINNA-2 makes an important upgrade for the Radioactive-Ion Beam (RIB) research done at the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (FLNR, JINR). Test ...results indicate that the separator meets the project specifications. Intensities obtained for the 6,8He, 9,11Li, 12Be RIBs are 15 times higher in comparison with the results achieved at the old separator ACCULINNA. An overview of the design, construction and commissioning studies of the ACCULINNA-2 separator is presented. The separator will be equipped with some key facilities: a cryogenic tritium target, zero degree spectrometer following the physical target bombarded by the RIBs, and with a neutron detector array, and the Time Projection Chamber (TPC). This opens a wide range of experimental possibilities. Overview is presented on the two first experiments devoted to the study of d + 6He elastic scattering and search for a 7H low-lying resonance state populated in the 2H(8He,3He)7H reaction.
In the recent work Nikolskii et al., Phys. Rev. C
105
, 064605 (2022) the
2
H(
8
He,
4
He)
6
H reaction was used for the study of the extreme neutron-rich 6H isotope. A broad bump was observed in the ...measured
6
H spectrum interpreted as the broad overlapping ground and some low-lying states of this nuclide. There could be certain doubts in the interpretation of this work: in conditions of the limited phase space it is not impossible that the structure in the missing mass spectrum of
6
H is actually induced by the resonant states populated by some other channels opened in the
8
He+
2
H interaction. This work provides a body of the evidence for the correct channel identification and for the absence of the
6
H resonances at energy
E
T
= 0 − 3.5 MeV above the
3
H+3
n
decay threshold. In addition the first strong experimental evidence is given that the
6
H →
5
H*+
n
→
3
H+3
n
sequential decay is the dominating
6
H decay channel.
The past few decades have seen major developments in the design and operation of cryogenic particle detectors. This technology offers an extremely good energy resolution – comparable to semiconductor ...detectors – and a wide choice of target materials, making low temperature calorimetric detectors ideal for a variety of particle physics applications. Rare event searches have continued to require ever greater exposures, which has driven them to ever larger cryogenic detectors, with the CUORE experiment being the first to reach a tonne-scale, mK-cooled, experimental mass. CUORE, designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay, has been operational since 2017 at a temperature of about 10 mK. This result has been attained by the use of an unprecedentedly large cryogenic infrastructure called the CUORE cryostat: conceived, designed and commissioned for this purpose. In this article the main characteristics and features of the cryogenic facility developed for the CUORE experiment are highlighted. In this work, a brief introduction of the evolution of the field and of the past cryogenic facilities are given. The motivation behind the design and development of the CUORE cryogenic facility is detailed as are the steps taken toward realization, commissioning, and operation of the CUORE cryostat. The major challenges overcome by the collaboration and the solutions implemented throughout the building of the cryogenic facility will be discussed along with the potential improvements for future facilities. The success of CUORE has opened the door to a new generation of large-scale cryogenic facilities in numerous fields of science. Broader implications of the incredible feat achieved by the CUORE collaboration on the future cryogenic facilities in various fields ranging from neutrino and dark matter experiments to quantum computing will be examined.
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