Results on neutrinoless double-β decay of 76Ge from phase I of the GERDA experiment

M Agostini; M Allardt; E Andreotti; A M Bakalyarov; M Balata; I Barabanov; M Barnabé Heider; N Barros; L Baudis; C Bauer; N Becerici-Schmidt; E Bellotti; S Belogurov; S T Belyaev; G Benato; A Bettini; L Bezrukov; T Bode; V Brudanin; R Brugnera; D Budjáš; A Caldwell; C Cattadori; A Chernogorov; F Cossavella; E V Demidova; A Domula; V Egorov; R Falkenstein; A Ferella; K Freund; N Frodyma; A Gangapshev; A Garfagnini; C Gotti; P Grabmayr; V Gurentsov; K Gusev; K K Guthikonda; W Hampel; A Hegai; M Heisel; S Hemmer; G Heusser; W Hofmann; M Hult; L V Inzhechik; L Ioannucci; J Janicskó Csáthy; J Jochum; M Junker; T Kihm; I V Kirpichnikov; A Kirsch; A Klimenko; K T Knöpfle; O Kochetov; V N Kornoukhov; V V Kuzminov; M Laubenstein; A Lazzaro; V I Lebedev; B Lehnert; H Y Liao; M Lindner; I Lippi; X Liu; A Lubashevskiy; B Lubsandorzhiev; G Lutter; C Macolino; A A Machado; B Majorovits; W Maneschg; M Misiaszek; I Nemchenok; S Nisi; C O'Shaughnessy; L Pandola; K Pelczar; G Pessina; A Pullia; S Riboldi; N Rumyantseva; C Sada; M Salathe; C Schmitt; J Schreiner; O Schulz; B Schwingenheuer; S Schönert; E Shevchik; M Shirchenko; H Simgen; A Smolnikov; L Stanco; H Strecker; M Tarka; C A Ur; A A Vasenko; O Volynets; K von Sturm; V Wagner; M Walter; A Wegmann; T Wester; M Wojcik; E Yanovich; P Zavarise; I Zhitnikov; S V Zhukov; D Zinatulina; K Zuber; G Zuzel; GERDA Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.122503

Results on neutrinoless double-β decay of 76Ge from phase I of the GERDA experiment

Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Sep 20;111(12):122503. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.122503. Epub 2013 Sep 19.

Authors

M Agostini¹, M Allardt, E Andreotti, A M Bakalyarov, M Balata, I Barabanov, M Barnabé Heider, N Barros, L Baudis, C Bauer, N Becerici-Schmidt, E Bellotti, S Belogurov, S T Belyaev, G Benato, A Bettini, L Bezrukov, T Bode, V Brudanin, R Brugnera, D Budjáš, A Caldwell, C Cattadori, A Chernogorov, F Cossavella, E V Demidova, A Domula, V Egorov, R Falkenstein, A Ferella, K Freund, N Frodyma, A Gangapshev, A Garfagnini, C Gotti, P Grabmayr, V Gurentsov, K Gusev, K K Guthikonda, W Hampel, A Hegai, M Heisel, S Hemmer, G Heusser, W Hofmann, M Hult, L V Inzhechik, L Ioannucci, J Janicskó Csáthy, J Jochum, M Junker, T Kihm, I V Kirpichnikov, A Kirsch, A Klimenko, K T Knöpfle, O Kochetov, V N Kornoukhov, V V Kuzminov, M Laubenstein, A Lazzaro, V I Lebedev, B Lehnert, H Y Liao, M Lindner, I Lippi, X Liu, A Lubashevskiy, B Lubsandorzhiev, G Lutter, C Macolino, A A Machado, B Majorovits, W Maneschg, M Misiaszek, I Nemchenok, S Nisi, C O'Shaughnessy, L Pandola, K Pelczar, G Pessina, A Pullia, S Riboldi, N Rumyantseva, C Sada, M Salathe, C Schmitt, J Schreiner, O Schulz, B Schwingenheuer, S Schönert, E Shevchik, M Shirchenko, H Simgen, A Smolnikov, L Stanco, H Strecker, M Tarka, C A Ur, A A Vasenko, O Volynets, K von Sturm, V Wagner, M Walter, A Wegmann, T Wester, M Wojcik, E Yanovich, P Zavarise, I Zhitnikov, S V Zhukov, D Zinatulina, K Zuber, G Zuzel; GERDA Collaboration

Affiliation

¹ Physik Department and Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München, Germany.

PMID: 24093254
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.122503

Abstract

Neutrinoless double beta decay is a process that violates lepton number conservation. It is predicted to occur in extensions of the standard model of particle physics. This Letter reports the results from phase I of the Germanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment at the Gran Sasso Laboratory (Italy) searching for neutrinoless double beta decay of the isotope (76)Ge. Data considered in the present analysis have been collected between November 2011 and May 2013 with a total exposure of 21.6 kg yr. A blind analysis is performed. The background index is about 1 × 10(-2) counts/(keV kg yr) after pulse shape discrimination. No signal is observed and a lower limit is derived for the half-life of neutrinoless double beta decay of (76)Ge, T(1/2)(0ν) >2.1 × 10(25) yr (90% C.L.). The combination with the results from the previous experiments with (76)Ge yields T(1/2)(0ν)>3.0 × 10(25) yr (90% C.L.).