High light collection efficiency is an important requirement in any application of scintillation detectors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility for improving this parameter in ...cryogenic scintillation bolometers, which can be considered as promising detectors in experiments investigating neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter. Energy resolutions and relative pulse amplitudes of scintillation detectors using ZnWO sub(4) scintillation crystals of different shapes (cylinder empty_set 2020 mm and hexagonal prism with diagonal 20 mm and height 20 mm), reflector materials and shapes, optical contact and surface properties (polished and diffused) were measured at room temperature. Propagation of optical photons in these experimental conditions was simulated using Geant4 and ZEMAX codes. The results of the simulations are found to be in good agreement with each other and with direct measurements of the crystals. This could be applied to optimize the geometry of scintillation detectors used in the cryogenic experiments.
A long-term measurement was conducted to search for α, double-α and double-β decays with γ quanta emission in naturally occurring osmium isotopes. This study took advantage of two ultra-low ...background HPGe detectors and one ultra-low background BEGe detector at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS) of the INFN. Over almost 5 years of data were taken using high-purity osmium samples of approximately 173 g. The half-life limits set for α decays of
184
Os to the first 2
+
103.6 keV excited level of
180
W (
T
1/2
≥ 9.3 × 10
15
yr) and of
186
Os to the first 2
+
100.1 keV of
182
W (
T
1/2
≥ 4.8 × 10
17
yr) exceed substantially the present theoretical predictions that are at level of
T
1/2
~ (0.6–3) × 10
15
yr for
184
Os and
T
1/2
~ (0.3–2) × 10
17
yr for
186
Os. New half-life limits on the 2EC and ECβ
+
decay of
184
Os to the ground and excited levels of
184
W were set at level of
T
1/2
> 10
16
–10
17
yr; a lower limit on the 2β
–
decay of
192
Os to the 2
+
316.5 keV excited level of
192
Pt was estimated as
T
1/2
≥ 6.1 × 10
20
yr. The half-life limits for 2α decay of
189
Os and
192
Os were set for the first time at level of
T
1/2
> 10
20
yr.
In the core of the Sun, energy is released through sequences of nuclear reactions that convert hydrogen into helium. The primary reaction is thought to be the fusion of two protons with the emission ...of a low-energy neutrino. These so-called pp neutrinos constitute nearly the entirety of the solar neutrino flux, vastly outnumbering those emitted in the reactions that follow. Although solar neutrinos from secondary processes have been observed, proving the nuclear origin of the Sun's energy and contributing to the discovery of neutrino oscillations, those from proton-proton fusion have hitherto eluded direct detection. Here we report spectral observations of pp neutrinos, demonstrating that about 99 per cent of the power of the Sun, 3.84 × 10(33) ergs per second, is generated by the proton-proton fusion process.
The CUPID-Mo experiment at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (France) is a demonstrator for CUPID, the next-generation ton-scale bolometric 0νββ experiment. It consists of a 4.2 kg array of 20 ...enriched Li2 100MoO4 scintillating bolometers to search for the lepton-number-violating process of 0νββ decay in 100Mo. With more than one year of operation (100Mo exposure of 1.17 kg × yr for physics data), no event in the region of interest and, hence, no evidence for 0νββ is observed. We report a new limit on the half-life of 0νββ decay in 100Mo of T1/2 > 1.5 × 1024 yr at 90% C.I. The limit corresponds to an effective Majorana neutrino mass ⟨m β β⟩ < (0.31 –0.54 ) eV, dependent on the nuclear matrix element in the light Majorana neutrino exchange interpretation.
Resonance excitation of the
83
Kr first nuclear level (
E
= 9.4 keV) by solar axions formed via the Primakoff mechanism is sought. The γ- and X-ray photons and the conversion and Auger electrons ...arising from the excited-level relaxation are detected with a gas proportional counter of a low-background detector in the underground Baksan Neutrino Observatory. The following experimental constraint is obtained for the product of the axion–photon coupling constant and the axion mass:|
g
A
γ
×
m
A
| ≤ 6.3 × 10
-17
In the framework of the hadronic-axion model, this corresponds to a new axion-mass constraint of
m
A
≤ 12.7 eV at 95% C.L.
Abstract
The ability of protocols based on the B2PLYPD/6-311+G**//B3LYP/6-31+G* method with various schemes for accounting for nonspecific solvation to reproduce C-H, N-H, O-H and S-H acidity in a ...dimethyl sulfoxide medium is considered. For a selected set of 20 compounds, typical reagents for reactions in superbasic media, the IEFPCM scheme with UFF cavity and α = 1.35 multiplier yields better results than the popular SMD model.
The advanced molybdenum-based rare process experiment (AMoRE) aims to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (
0
ν
β
β
) of
100
Mo with
∼
100
kg
of
100
Mo-enriched molybdenum embedded in cryogenic ...detectors with a dual heat and light readout. At the current, pilot stage of the AMoRE project we employ six calcium molybdate crystals with a total mass of 1.9 kg, produced from
48
Ca-depleted calcium and
100
Mo-enriched molybdenum (
48
depl
Ca
100
MoO
4
). The simultaneous detection of heat (phonon) and scintillation (photon) signals is realized with high resolution metallic magnetic calorimeter sensors that operate at milli-Kelvin temperatures. This stage of the project is carried out in the Yangyang underground laboratory at a depth of 700 m. We report first results from the AMoRE-Pilot
0
ν
β
β
search with a 111 kg day live exposure of
48
depl
Ca
100
MoO
4
crystals. No evidence for
0
ν
β
β
decay of
100
Mo is found, and a upper limit is set for the half-life of
0
ν
β
β
of
100
Mo of
T
1
/
2
0
ν
>
9.5
×
10
22
years
at 90% C.L. This limit corresponds to an effective Majorana neutrino mass limit in the range
⟨
m
β
β
⟩
≤
(
1.2
-
2.1
)
eV
.
The search for neutrinoless double β decay probes lepton number conservation with high sensitivity and investigates the neutrino nature and mass scale. Experiments presently in preparation will cover ...the quasi-degeneracy region of the neutrino mass pattern. Probing the inverted hierarchy region requires improved sensitivities and next-generation experiments, based either on large expansions of the present searches or on new ideas. We examine here a novel technology relying on ZnMoO4 scintillating bolometers, which can provide an experiment with background close to zero in the ton × year exposure scale. The promising performance of a pilot detector is presented, both in terms of energy resolution and background control. A preliminary study of the sensitivities of future experiments shows that the inverted hierarchy region is within the reach of the technique here proposed. A realistic phased approach program towards a next-generation search is presented and briefly discussed.
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