Participation in the Construction and Operation of the CUORE and Majorana Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Experiments

该奖项将使该小组能够继续进行无中微子双β衰变（NDBD）的综合计划。这项活动的智力价值是基于这样一个事实，即NDBD是确定中微子是否是马约拉纳粒子（它们自己的反粒子）的唯一实用方法。这种奇异的衰变是对轻子数守恒最敏感的测试，轻子数守恒是基本粒子物理学中重要的对称性。如果中微子确实是马约拉纳粒子，对NDBD半衰期的测量将得出电子中微子的有效马约拉纳质量。结合中微子振荡数据，它将确定所有三个中微子质量特征值。早期宇宙的纤生现象只有在马约拉纳中微子存在的情况下才有可能发生。NDBD的实验室观测和测量将是基本粒子物理学、天体物理学和宇宙学的变革。该小组正在进行两个NDBD实验：CUORE和MAJORANA。南加州大学承担了从探测器到数据采集系统的前端CUORE电子系统的采购、生产、安装和维护的主要任务，并参与了CUORE第一座塔CUORE-0的建设和运营。USC领导了MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR研发项目的一项主要任务，该项目负责采购浓缩氧化锗，将其还原为金属，区域细化为探测器质量金属，以及废料的再加工。南加州大学领导了锗（Ge）加工设施的建设和运营。更广泛的影响：这一发现将对天体物理学和宇宙学做出重要贡献。在这个项目中开发的新的基因探测技术现在被用于国家和国土安全。学生们正在接受其他基础科学和应用科学的低温技术以及先进计算方法的培训。南加州大学有一个面向高中学生和教师的新项目。

This award will enable the group to continue a comprehensive program in neutrino-less double-beta decay (NDBD). The intellectual merit of this activity is based on the fact that NDBD is the only practical way to determine if neutrinos are Majorana particles (their own antiparticles). This exotic decay is the most sensitive test of lepton number conservation, an important symmetry in elementary-particle physics. If indeed neutrinos are Majorana particles, a measurement of the NDBD half-life would yield the effective Majorana mass of the electron neutrino. Combined with neutrino oscillation data, it would determine all three neutrino mass eigenvalues. Leptogenesis in the early universe is only possible if there are Majorana neutrinos. The laboratory observation and measurement of NDBD would be transformative of elementary particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology.The group is working on two NDBD experiments: CUORE and MAJORANA. USC has the major tasks of the procurement, production, installation, and maintenance of the front-end CUORE electronic system from the detector to the data acquisition system, and is involved in the construction and operation of CUORE-0, the first tower of CUORE. USC leads a major Task in the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR R&D which has the responsibility for the procurement of enriched germanium oxide, its reduction to metal, zone refinement to detector quality metal, and reprocessing of scrap material. USC led the construction and operation of the facility for the germanium (Ge) processing. Broader Impacts: Discovery would make important contributions to astrophysics and cosmology. New Ge-detector technology developed in this program is now used in National and Homeland security. Students are being trained in cryogenic technology for other basic and applied sciences and in advanced computational methods. The USC group has a new program of outreach to high school students and teachers.