Journal Article

The projected background for the CUORE experiment

Lim, K. E., Hickerson, K. P., Benato, G., Clemenza, M., Sakai, M., Pira, C., Schmidt, B., Alduino, C., Chiesa, D., Bucci, C., Vignati, M., Pavan, M., Fujikawa, B. K., Rosenfeld, C., Sisti, M., Piperno, G., Taffarello, L., Singh, V., Avignone, F. T., Fernandes, G., Cushman, J. S., Chott, N., Zimmermann, S., Gladstone, L., Tomei, C., Giuliani, A., Wise, T., Di Vacri, M. L., Kadel, R., Wang, B. S., Carniti, P., Wagaarachchi, S. L., Freedman, S. J., Alfonso, K., Ouellet, J. L., Moggi, N., Creswick, R. J., Nastasi, M., Cardani, L., Pagliarone, C. E., Copello, S., Di Domizio, S., Morganti, S., Cao, X. G., Cappelli, L., Fang, D. Q., Nones, C., Giachero, A., Capelli, S., Hansen, E., Tenconi, M., Wang, H. W., Schmidt, J., Dell’Oro, S., Pettinacci, V., Fiorini, E., Pallavicini, M., Canonica, L., Banks, T. I., Santone, D., Gironi, L., Mosteiro, P. J., Welliver, B., Camacho, A., Maino, M., Pozzi, S., Zanotti, L., Leder, A., Woodcraft, A., D’Addabbo, A., Nucciotti, A., Ligi, C., Napolitano, T., Cremonesi, O., Artusa, D. R., Gotti, C., Brofferio, C., Ferri, E., Sangiorgio, S., Caminata, A., Bersani, A., O’Donnell, T., Pessina, G., Gutierrez, T. D., Novati, V., Belli

2017

Overview

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130 Te with an array of 988 TeO 2  bolometers operating at temperatures around 10 mK. The experiment is currently being commissioned in Hall A of Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. The goal of CUORE is to reach a 90% C.L. exclusion sensitivity on the 130 Te decay half-life of 9 × 10 25 years after 5 years of data taking. The main issue to be addressed to accomplish this aim is the rate of background events in the region of interest, which must not be higher than 10 - 2  counts/keV/kg/year. We developed a detailed Monte Carlo simulation, based on results from a campaign of material screening, radioassays, and bolometric measurements, to evaluate the expected background. This was used over the years to guide the construction strategies of the experiment and we use it here to project a background model for CUORE. In this paper we report the results of our study and our expectations for the background rate in the energy region where the peak signature of neutrinoless double beta decay of 130 Te is expected.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer,Springer Nature B.V,Springer Verlag (Germany),SpringerOpen
• Subject: Astronomy / Astrophysics and Cosmology / Beta decay / Bolometers / Computer simulation / Elementary Particles / Experiments / GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS / Hadrons / Heavy Ions / Instrumentation and Detectors / Measurement Science and Instrumentation / Monte Carlo methods / Monte Carlo simulation / Nuclear Energy / Nuclear Physics / NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS / Physics / Physics and Astronomy / PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS / Quantum Field Theories / Quantum Field Theory / Regular Article - Experimental Physics / String Theory