A next-generation neutrinoless double beta decay experiment based on ZnMoO4 scintillating bolometers

Abstract

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

Development of a Li2MoO4scintillating bolometer for low background physics

“…By means of scintillating properties these types of interactions can be easily identified and discarded. High-scale projects of 100 Mo 0νDBD search with sensitivity T 1/2 10 26 yr are known with two Mo-containing scintillating bolometers: CaMoO 4 [6] and ZnMoO 4 [7,9]. Appearance of new highly radiopure scintillator in this field can be very interesting.…”

Bolometric light detectors for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay search

“…This kind of setup was adapted to large absorbers as well, 5 cm diameter and around 250 µm thick, equipped with 3 × 2.2 × 0.6 mm 3 NTDs (figure 4). [7]. The run was performed aboveground: high energy portion of the β band arises from cosmic muons.…”

LUMINEU: a search for neutrinoless double beta decay based on ZnMoO4scintillating bolometers

“…The first zinc molybdate crystal with a mass of 0.17 kg was produced from molybdenum enriched in 100 Mo to 99.5% [17]. Investigations of the scintillating bolometers fabricated with two enriched crystals cut from the boule show that the response of these devices meets the requirements of a high-sensitivity double beta decay search based on this technology, as discussed in [18]. As a next step, an enriched Zn 100 MoO 4 crystal with a mass of 1.4 kg was grown for the first time by the LTG Cz method [19,20].…”