CUORE: Phase-I Construction and Crystal Bolometer Research and Development

建议编号：0605119美国南卡罗来纳大学研究基金会NSF计划：物理学家：中能核科学中心研究员：Avignone，Frank T.标题：Cuore：第一阶段结构和晶体测辐射热计研究与开发通过对大气中微子振荡的观测，超级神冈德对太阳中微子振荡的确认，SNO实验证明巴克尔预测的8-B中微子的通量是正确的，极大地提高了实验中无中微子双β衰变努力的智力价值，最近，卡姆兰德实验证实了太阳-中微子问题的Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein混合角解。然而，这些中微子振荡数据不能得出中微子的质量尺度，也不能用来确定中微子是马约拉纳粒子。如果电子中微子的质量为？0.2 eV，并且中微子是Majorana粒子，则无中微子双β衰变是确定质量标度的唯一希望，也是确定它们是Majorana粒子的唯一实际实验。对质量的了解将决定中微子作为热暗物质候选者扮演的角色，如果它们是Majorana粒子，这将打开瘦身发生的大门，成为早期宇宙中微小粒子超过反粒子不对称性的可能机制，这将导致今天观察到的粒子主导的宇宙。因此，CUORE(低温地下稀有事件天文台)，作为一个无中微子的双β衰变实验，具有重大的发现潜力。这项提案是为了支持南卡罗来纳大学在以下方面的工作：1)130-Te CUORE实验的第一阶段建设；南卡罗来纳大学小组建议负责生产测量988 TeO2测辐射热计所需的电子元件；以及2)一个研发计划，以确定在130-Te中Te浓缩到85%的情况下建造CuORE的技术可行性和成本。该项目的更广泛影响涉及超低本底Ge探测器的开发，现已移交给商业公司。低本底技术已用于萨凡纳河低本底计数装置的超低本底Ge探测器的研制。该设施用于美国政府与国土防务和国防有关的工作。

PROPOSAL NUMBER: 0605119INSTITUTION: University South Carolina Research FoundationNSF PROGRAM: PHY ¨C INTERMEDIATE ENERGY NUCLEAR SCIENCEPRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Avignone, Frank T. TITLE: CUORE: Phase-I Construction and Crystal Bolometer Research and Development ABSTRACTThe intellectual merit of experimental neutrino-less double beta decay efforts has been greatly enhanced by the observation of the oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos, the confirmation of oscillations of solar neutrinos by SuperKamiokande, the demonstration by the SNO experiment that the flux of 8-B neutrinos predicted by Bahcall is correct, and by the recent confirmation of the large Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein mixing angle solution of the solar-neutrino problem by the KamLAND experiment. However, these neutrino oscillation data cannot yield the mass scale of neutrinos, nor can they be used to determine that neutrinos are Majorana particles. If the mass of the electron neutrino is ¡Ü 0.2 eV, and neutrinos are Majorana particles, neutrino-less double beta decay is the only hope of determining the mass scale and it is the only practical experiment for determining that they are Majorana particles. Knowledge of the mass would determine what role, if any, neutrinos play as Hot Dark Matter candidates, and if they are Majorana particles, this opens the door to leptogenesis as a possible mechanism for the tiny particle over anti-particle asymmetry in the early universe that would have led to the particle dominated universe observed today.Hence, CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events), as a neutrino-less double beta decay experiment, has significant discovery potential. This proposal is a request to support the University of South Carolina (USC) in: 1) the first phase of the construction of the 130-Te CUORE experiment; the USC group proposes to take responsibility for the production of the electronic components necessary to instrument the 988 TeO2 bolometers; and 2) an R&D program to determine the technical feasibility and cost of constructing CUORE with Te enriched to 85% in 130-Te. The broader impacts of this project relate to development of ultralow background Ge detectors, transferred now to commercial companies. The low background technology has been used to produce an ultra low background Ge detector for the Savannah River Low-Background Counting Facility. This facility is used for US government work related to Homeland Defense and National Defense.