The EXO-200 detector, part I: detector design and construction

Auger, M.; Auty, D. J.; Barbeau, P. S.; Bartoszek, L.; Baussan, E.; Beauchamp, E.; Benitez-Medina, C.; Breidenbach, M.; Chauhan, D.; Cleveland, B. T.; Conley, R.; Cook, J. M.; Cook, S.; Coppens, A.; Craddock, W.; Daniels, T.; Davis, C. G.; Davis, J.; DeVoe, R.; Dobi, A.; Dolinski, M. J.; Dunford, M.; Fairbank, W. M.; Farine, J.; Fierlinger, P.; Franco, D.; Giroux, G.; Gornea, R.; Graham, K.; Gratta, G.; Hägemann, C.; Hall, C.; Hall, K.; Hargrove, C. K.; Herrin, S.; Hodgson, John A.; Hughes, M.; Karelin, A.; Kaufman, L. J.; Kirk, J.; Kuchenkov, A.; Kumar, Krishna; Leonard, D. S.; Léonard, François; LePort, F.; Mackay, D.; MacLellan, R.; Marino, M. G.; Merkle, K. L.; Mong, B.; Díez, M. Montero; Müller, Axel; Neilson, R.; Odian, A.; O’Sullivan, K.; Ouellet, C.; Piepke, A.; Pocar, A.; Prescott, C.Y.; Pushkin, K.; Rivas, A.; Rollin, E.; Rowson, P. C.; Sabourov, A.; Sinclair, D.; Skarpaas, K.; Slutsky, S.; Stekhanov, V.; Strickland, V.; Swift, M.; Tosi, D.; Twelker, K.; Vuilleumier, J. L.; Walton, T.; Weber, M.; Wichoski, U.; Wodin, J.; Wright, John D.; Yang, L.; Yen, Y.-R.

doi:10.1088/1748-0221/7/05/p05010

Cited by 181 publications

(192 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(71 reference statements)

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“…EXO-200 has been described in detail elsewhere [15]. Briefly, the detector is a cylindrical liquid xenon (LXe) time projection chamber (TPC), roughly 40 cm in diameter and 44 cm in length.…”

Section: Exo-200 Detectormentioning

confidence: 99%

Search for Majorana neutrinos with the first two years of EXO-200 data

2014

Nature

386

318

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Many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics suggest that neutrinos should be Majorana-type fermions, but this assumption is difficult to confirm. Observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ), a spontaneous transition that may occur in several candidate nuclei, would verify the Majorana nature of the neutrino and constrain the absolute scale of the neutrino mass spectrum. Recent searches carried out with 76 Ge (GERDA experiment) and 136 Xe (KamLAND-Zen and EXO-200 experiments) have established the lifetime of this decay to be longer than 10 25 yr, corresponding to a limit on the neutrino mass of 0.2-0.4 eV. Here we report new results from EXO-200 based on 100 kg·yr of 136 Xe exposure, representing an almost fourfold increase from our earlier published datasets. We have improved the detector resolution at the 136 Xe double-betadecay Q-value to σ/E = 1.53% and revised the data analysis. The obtained half-life sensitivity is 1.9 · 10 25 yr, an improvement by a factor of 2.7 compared to previous EXO-200 results. We find no statistically significant evidence for 0νββ decay and set a half-life limit of 1.1 · 10 25 yr at 90% CL. The high sensitivity holds promise for further running of the EXO-200 detector and future 0νββ decay searches with nEXO. Majorana fermions, a class of neutral spin-1/2 particles described by 2-component spinors, have been an element of quantum field theory since its inception [1,2]. Electrons and other spin-1/2 elementary particles with distinct antiparticles, however, are described by 4-component Dirac spinors. Majorana quasiparticles may have been observed in condensed matter systems [3] where neutrality is achieved through the collective action of electrons and holes. Among the known elementary particles, only neutrinos are Majorana fermion candidates, owing to their intrinsic neutrality. Confirmation of this property would imply the non-conservation of lepton number, an additive quantum number that, unlike charge or color, is not related to any known gauge symmetry. As yet, lepton number has been empirically found to be conserved. Neutrinos are also remarkable for their small, yet finite, masses [4] that are generally difficult to explain, but arise naturally in many extensions [5,6] of the Standard Model of particle physics (SM). A generic consequence of many such extensions is that neutrinos should be of the Majorana variety.The most sensitive probe for Majorana neutrinos is a nuclear process known as neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ), whereby a nucleus decays by emitting two electrons and nothing else, while changing its charge by two units [7]. A related double-beta decay process, known as two-neutrino double-beta decay (2νββ), is allowed by the SM and has been observed in many nuclei, 136 Xe among them [8,9]. It provides, however, no direct information on the Majorana/Dirac question. The exotic 0νββ can be distinguished from the 2νββ by measuring the sum energy of the two electrons that is peaked at the Q-value for the former and is a continuum for the latter....

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Section: Exo-200 Detectormentioning

confidence: 99%

Search for Majorana neutrinos with the first two years of EXO-200 data

2014

Nature

386

318

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“…Xe, EXO-200 contains a non-negligible amount of 134 Xe (∼19% [13]), which can also be utilized to search for nucleon decays using the same strategy. However, given the ∼4 times smaller exposure and lower Q-values of the corresponding daughter isotopes, the resulting lifetime limits are not expected to be competitive with the ones obtained using …”

Section: In Addition To 136mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A detailed description of the detector is available elsewhere [13]. The detector is constructed from components carefully selected to minimize internal radioactivity [14,15].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Search for nucleon decays with EXO-200

Albert¹,

Anton²,

Badhrees³

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. D

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“…A diagram of the detector setup is shown in Figure 2. All components located within the lead shield were screened by radioassay and selected for radiopurity [3].…”

Section: Exo-200/nexomentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutrinoless double beta decay

Albert¹

2017

Proceedings of Flavor Physics and CP Violation — PoS(FPCP2016)

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The EXO-200 detector, part I: detector design and construction

Cited by 181 publications

References 42 publications

Search for Majorana neutrinos with the first two years of EXO-200 data

Search for Majorana neutrinos with the first two years of EXO-200 data

Search for nucleon decays with EXO-200

Neutrinoless double beta decay

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