CUORE and MAJORANA:Next Generation Neutrino-Less Double-Beta Experiments

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A program in neutrino-less double-beta (NLDB) decay is very timely. One principal conclusion of the APS Multidivisional Study stated: "We recommend, as a high priority, a phased program of sensitive searches for neutrinoless nuclear double-beta decay." NLDB decay is the only practical way to determine if neutrinos are their own antiparticles and it is the most sensitive test of lepton-number conservation, an important symmetry in elementary particle physics. If neutrinos are Majorana particles, an accurate measurement of the NLDB-decay half-life might well be possible; it would yield the effective Majorana mass of the electron neutrino which, when combined with the results of neutrino oscillation experiments, would determine all three neutrino-mass eigenvalues. This award will provide funds to support the USC group to continue their involvement in the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE), an array of 988 tellurium oxide bolometers, at Gran Sasso (LNGS), Italy. CUORE is the successor to CUORICINO, currently the most sensitive NLDB decay experiment in operation. The USC team is responsible for the procurement and production of the CUORE electronics from the detector to the data acquisition system. The PI is the U.S. Task Coordinator for the construction of CUORE-0, the first of the 19 towers of CUORE. It will test the specific construction procedures of CUORE, will operate in the CUORICINO cryostat and will yield physics results beyond those of CUORICINO. For Broader Impacts, these proposed tasks provide excellent Ph.D. research topics. Another broader impact is, and has been, new detector technology for national and homeland security. A third broader impact is new cryogenic and Ge-detector technology for other basic/applied sciences.