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1. Search for periodic modulations of the rate of double-β decay of 100Mo in the NEMO-3 detector

   https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.104.L061601  

   R. Arnold, 1 C. ( December 2021 , Physical review and Physical review letters index)

   Double-beta decays of 100Mo from the 6.0195-year exposure of a 6.914 kg high-purity sample were recorded by the NEMO-3 experiment that searched for neutrinoless double-beta decays. These ultrarare transitions to 100Ru have a half-life of approximately 7 × 1018 years and have been used to conduct the first-ever search for periodic variations of this decay mode. The Lomb-Scargle periodogram technique, and its error-weighted extension, were employed to look for periodic modulations of the half-life. Data show no evidence at the 95% confidence level of modulations with amplitude greater than 2.5% in the frequency range of 0.33225 yr−1 to 360 yr−1. 

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2. Performance of novel VUV-sensitive Silicon Photo-Multipliers for nEXO

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-11072-8  

   Gallina, G. ; Guan, Y. ; Retiere, F. ; Cao, G. ; Bolotnikov, A. ; Kotov, I. ; Rescia, S. ; Soma, A. K. ; Tsang, T. ; Darroch, L. ; et al ( December 2022 , The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract Liquid xenon time projection chambers are promising detectors to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0 $$\nu \beta \beta $$ ν β β ), due to their response uniformity, monolithic sensitive volume, scalability to large target masses, and suitability for extremely low background operations. The nEXO collaboration has designed a tonne-scale time projection chamber that aims to search for 0 $$\nu \beta \beta $$ ν β β of $$^{136}$$ 136 Xe with projected half-life sensitivity of $$1.35\times 10^{28}$$ 1.35 × 10 28  yr. To reach this sensitivity, the design goal for nEXO is $$\le $$ ≤ 1% energy resolution at the decay Q -value ( $$2458.07\pm 0.31$$ 2458.07 ± 0.31  keV). Reaching this resolution requires the efficient collection of both the ionization and scintillation produced in the detector. The nEXO design employs Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) to detect the vacuum ultra-violet, 175 nm scintillation light of liquid xenon. This paper reports on the characterization of the newest vacuum ultra-violet sensitive Fondazione Bruno Kessler VUVHD3 SiPMs specifically designed for nEXO, as well as new measurements on new test samples of previously characterised Hamamatsu VUV4 Multi Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs). Various SiPM and MPPC parameters, such as dark noise, gain, direct crosstalk, correlated avalanches and photon detection efficiency were measured as a function of the applied over voltage and wavelength at liquid xenon temperature (163 K). The results from this study are used to provide updated estimates of the achievable energy resolution at the decay Q -value for the nEXO design. 

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3. nEXO: neutrinoless double beta decay search beyond 10 28 year half-life sensitivity

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6471/ac3631  

   Adhikari, G ; Al Kharusi, S ; Angelico, E ; Anton, G ; Arnquist, I J ; Badhrees, I ; Bane, J ; Belov, V ; Bernard, E P ; Bhatta, T ; et al ( December 2021 , Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics)

   Abstract The nEXO neutrinoless double beta (0 νββ ) decay experiment is designed to use a time projection chamber and 5000 kg of isotopically enriched liquid xenon to search for the decay in 136 Xe. Progress in the detector design, paired with higher fidelity in its simulation and an advanced data analysis, based on the one used for the final results of EXO-200, produce a sensitivity prediction that exceeds the half-life of 10 28 years. Specifically, improvements have been made in the understanding of production of scintillation photons and charge as well as of their transport and reconstruction in the detector. The more detailed knowledge of the detector construction has been paired with more assays for trace radioactivity in different materials. In particular, the use of custom electroformed copper is now incorporated in the design, leading to a substantial reduction in backgrounds from the intrinsic radioactivity of detector materials. Furthermore, a number of assumptions from previous sensitivity projections have gained further support from interim work validating the nEXO experiment concept. Together these improvements and updates suggest that the nEXO experiment will reach a half-life sensitivity of 1.35 × 10 28 yr at 90% confidence level in 10 years of data taking, covering the parameter space associated with the inverted neutrino mass ordering, along with a significant portion of the parameter space for the normal ordering scenario, for almost all nuclear matrix elements. The effects of backgrounds deviating from the nominal values used for the projections are also illustrated, concluding that the nEXO design is robust against a number of imperfections of the model. 

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4. Observation of two-neutrino double electron capture in 124Xe with XENON1T

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1124-4  

   E. Aprile, 1J. Aalbers ( April 2019 , Nature)

   Two-neutrino double electron capture (2νECEC) is a second-order Weak process with predictedhalf-lives that surpass the age of the Universe by many orders of magnitude [1]. Until now, indi-cations for 2νECEC decays have only been seen for two isotopes,78Kr [2, 3] and130Ba [4, 5], andinstruments with very low background levels are needed to detect them directly with high statisticalsignificance [6, 7]. The 2νECEC half-life provides an important input for nuclear structure models[8–14] and its measurement represents a first step in the search for the neutrinoless double electroncapture processes (0νECEC). A detection of the latter would have implications for the nature of theneutrino and give access to the absolute neutrino mass [15–17]. Here we report on the first directobservation of 2νECEC in124Xe with the XENON1T Dark Matter detector. The significance of thesignal is 4.4σand the corresponding half-lifeT2νECEC1/2= (1.8±0.5stat±0.1sys)×1022y is the longestever measured directly. This study demonstrates that the low background and large target massof xenon-based Dark Matter detectors make them well suited to measuring other rare processes aswell, and it highlights the broad physics reach for even larger next-generation experiments 

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5. Relevance of the Nuclear Structure of the Stable Ge Isotopes to the Neutrino-less Double-Beta Decay of 76 Ge

   https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202023204011  

   Yates, S. W. ; Peters, E. E. ; Crider, B. P. ; Mukhopadhyay, S. ; Ramirez, A. P. ; Mitchell, A.J. ; Pavetich, S. ; Koll, D. ( January 2020 , EPJ Web of Conferences)

   Gamma-ray detection following the inelastic neutron scattering reaction on isotopically enriched material was used to study the nuclear structure of 74 Ge. From these measurements, low-lying, low-spin excited states were characterized, new states and their decays were identified, level lifetimes were measured with the Doppler-shift attenuation method (DSAM), multipole mixing ratios were established, and transition probabilities were determined. New structural features in 74 Ge were identified, and the reanalysis of older 76 Ge data led to the placement of the 2 + member of the intruder band. In addition, a number of previously placed states in 74 Ge were shown not to exist. A procedure for future work, which will lead to meaningful data for constraining calculations of the neutrinoless double-beta decay matrix element, is suggested. 

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