Journal Article

The CUPID-Mo experiment for neutrinoless double-beta decay: performance and prospects

Winslow, L., Juillard, A., Benato, G., Johnston, J., Schmidt, B., de Combarieu, M., Augier, C., Gironi, L., Welliver, B., Camus, P., Helis, D. L., Shlegel, V. N., Eitel, K., Makarov, E. P., Loaiza, P., Grigorieva, V. D., Leder, A., Sorbino, S., Marnieros, S., Pavan, M., Fujikawa, B. K., Pari, P., Redon, Th, Misiak, D., Kleifges, M., Pessina, G., Vagneron, L., Billard, J., Charlieux, F., Zolotarova, A. S., Yakushev, E., Guerard, E., Sanglard, V., Brudanin, V. B., Novati, V., Singh, V., Bellini, F., Beretta, M., Xue, M., Pagnanini, L., Benoît, A., Olivieri, E., Khalife, H., Weber, M., Schäffner, K., Dafinei, I., Previtali, E., Siebenborn, B., Peng, H., Shen, Y., de Marcillac, P., Tomei, C., Velázquez, M., Giuliani, A., Huang, R., Gascon, J., Bergé, L., Navick, X. -F., Paul, B., Umatov, V. I., Rozov, S., Borovlev, Yu. A., Kolomensky, Yu. G., Pirro, S., Polischuk, O. G., Ma, L., Pattavina, L., Cazes, A., Konovalov, S. I., Rusconi, C., Poda, D. V., Ouellet, J. L., Chapellier, M., Dumoulin, L., Huang, H. Z., Gros, M., Cardani, L., Danevich, F. A., Barabash, A. S., Casali, N., Briere, M., Elkhoury, E., Tretyak, V. I., Marini, L., Nones, C., Armengaud, E., De Je

2020

Overview

CUPID-Mo is a bolometric experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay ( 0 ν β β ) of 100 Mo . In this article, we detail the CUPID-Mo detector concept, assembly and installation in the Modane underground laboratory, providing results from the first datasets. The CUPID-Mo detector consists of an array of 20 100 Mo -enriched 0.2 kg Li 2 MoO 4 crystals operated as scintillating bolometers at ∼ 20 mK . The Li 2 MoO 4 crystals are complemented by 20 thin Ge optical bolometers to reject α events by the simultaneous detection of heat and scintillation light. We observe a good detector uniformity and an excellent energy resolution of 5.3 keV (6.5 keV) FWHM at 2615 keV, in calibration (physics) data. Light collection ensures the rejection of α particles at a level much higher than 99.9% – with equally high acceptance for γ / β events – in the region of interest for 100 Mo 0 ν β β . We present limits on the crystals’ radiopurity: ≤ 3 μ Bq/kg of 226 Ra and ≤ 2 μ Bq/kg of 232 Th . We discuss the science reach of CUPID-Mo, which can set the most stringent half-life limit on the 100 Mo 0 ν β β decay in half-a-year’s livetime. The achieved results show that CUPID-Mo is a successful demonstrator of the technology developed by the LUMINEU project and subsequently selected for the CUPID experiment, a proposed follow-up of CUORE, the currently running first tonne-scale bolometric 0 ν β β experiment.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer,Springer Nature B.V,Springer Verlag (Germany),SpringerOpen
• Subject: 100Mo / Alpha particles / Alpha rays / Astronomy / Astrophysics and Cosmology / Beta decay / Bolometers / Cryogenic detector / Crystals / Detectors / Double-beta decay / Elementary Particles / Energy resolution / Enriched materials / Experiments / Hadrons / Heavy Ions / High Energy Physics - Experiment / High performance / Instrumentation and Detectors / Lithium molybdate / Low background / Measurement Science and Instrumentation / Nuclear Energy / Nuclear Experiment / Nuclear Physics / Particle identification / Physics / Physics and Astronomy / Quantum Field Theories / Quantum Field Theory / Radiopurity / Radium 226 / Regular Article - Experimental Physics / Scintillating bolometer / Scintillator / Sensors / String Theory