The status and initial results of the Majorana demonstrator experiment

V. E. Guiseppe, N. Abgrall, S. I. Alvis, I. J. Arnquist, F. T. Avignone, A. S. Barabash, C. J. Barton, F. E. Bertrand, T. Bode, A. W. Bradley, V. Brudanin, M. Busch, M. Buuck, T. S. Caldwell, Y. D. Chan, C. D. Christofferson, P. H. Chu, C. Cuesta, J. A. Detwiler, C. DunaganYu Efremenko, H. Ejiri, S. R. Elliott, T. Gilliss, G. K. Giovanetti, M. P. Green, J. Gruszko, I. S. Guinn, C. R. Haufe, L. Hehn, R. Henning, E. W. Hoppe, M. A. Howe, K. J. Keeter, M. F. Kidd, S. I. Konovalov, R. T. Kouzes, A. M. Lopez, R. D. Martin, R. Massarczyk, S. J. Meijer, S. Mertens, J. Myslik, C. O'Shaughnessy, G. Othman, A. W.P. Poon, D. C. Radford, J. Rager, A. L. Reine, K. Rielage, R. G.H. Robertson, N. W. Rouf, B. Shanks, M. Shirchenko, A. M. Suriano, D. Tedeschi, J. E. Trimble, R. L. Varner, S. Vasilyev, K. Vetter, K. Vorren, B. R. White, J. F. Wilkerson, C. Wiseman, W. Xu, E. Yakushev, C. H. Yu, V. Yumatov, I. Zhitnikov, B. X. Zhu

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Neutrinoless double-beta decay searches play a major role in determining the nature of neutrinos, the existence of a lepton violating process, and the effective Majorana neutrino mass. The Majorana Collaboration assembled an array of high purity Ge detectors to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in 76Ge. The Majorana Demonstrator is comprised of 44.1 kg (29.7 kg enriched in 76Ge) of Ge detectors divided between two modules contained in a low-background shield at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA. The initial goals of the Demonstrator are to establish the required background and scalability of a Ge-based next-generation ton-scale experiment. Following a commissioning run that started in 2015, the first detector module started low-background data production in early 2016. The second detector module was added in August 2016 to begin operation of the entire array. We discuss results of the initial physics runs, as well as the status and physics reach of the full Majorana Demonstrator experiment.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationWorkshop on Calculation of Double-Beta-Decay Matrix Elements, MEDEX 2017
EditorsOsvaldo Civitarese, Jouni Suhonen, Ivan Stekl
PublisherAmerican Institute of Physics Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9780735415775
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 16 2017
Event11th Workshop on Calculation of Double-Beta-Decay Matrix Elements, MEDEX 2017 - Prague, Czech Republic
Duration: May 29 2017Jun 2 2017

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume1894
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Conference

Conference11th Workshop on Calculation of Double-Beta-Decay Matrix Elements, MEDEX 2017
Country/TerritoryCzech Republic
CityPrague
Period05/29/1706/2/17

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, the Particle Astrophysics and Nuclear Physics Programs of the National Science Foundation, and the Sanford Underground Research Facility.

FundersFunder number
Office of Nuclear Physics
Sanford Underground Research Facility
National Science Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
National Science Foundation

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