Journal of High Energy Physics (Oct 2019)
Radiogenic backgrounds in the NEXT double beta decay experiment
- The NEXT collaboration,
- P. Novella,
- B. Palmeiro,
- M. Sorel,
- A. Usón,
- P. Ferrario,
- J. J. Gómez-Cadenas,
- C. Adams,
- V. Álvarez,
- L. Arazi,
- I. J. Arnquist,
- C. D. R Azevedo,
- K. Bailey,
- F. Ballester,
- J. M. Benlloch-Rodríguez,
- F. I. G. M. Borges,
- N. Byrnes,
- S. Cárcel,
- J. V. Carrión,
- S. Cebrían,
- E. Church,
- C. A. N. Conde,
- T. Contreras,
- G. Díaz,
- J. Díaz,
- M. Diesburg,
- J. Escada,
- R. Esteve,
- R. Felkai,
- A. F. M. Fernandes,
- L. M. P. Fernandes,
- A. L. Ferreira,
- E. D. C. Freitas,
- J. Generowicz,
- S. Ghosh,
- A. Goldschmidt,
- D. Gonźalez-Díaz,
- R. Guenette,
- R. M. Gutiérrez,
- J. Haefner,
- K. Hafidi,
- J. Hauptman,
- C. A. O. Henriques,
- J. A. Hernando Morata,
- P. Herrero,
- V. Herrero,
- Y. Ifergan,
- S. Johnston,
- B. J. P. Jones,
- M. Kekic,
- L. Labarga,
- A. Laing,
- P. Lebrun,
- N. López-March,
- M. Losada,
- R. D. P. Mano,
- J. Martín-Albo,
- A. Martínez,
- G. Martínez-Lema,
- A. D. McDonald,
- F. Monrabal,
- C. M. B. Monteiro,
- F. J. Mora,
- J. Muñoz Vidal,
- D. R. Nygren,
- A. Para,
- J. Pérez,
- F. Psihas,
- M. Querol,
- J. Renner,
- J. Repond,
- S. Riordan,
- L. Ripoll,
- Y. Rodríguez García,
- J. Rodríguez,
- L. Rogers,
- B. Romeo,
- C. Romo-Luque,
- F. P. Santos,
- J. M. F. dos Santos,
- A. Simón,
- C. Sofka,
- T. Stiegler,
- J. F. Toledo,
- J. Torrent,
- J. F. C. A. Veloso,
- R. Webb,
- R. Weiss-Babai,
- J. T. White,
- K. Woodruff,
- N. Yahlali
Affiliations
- The NEXT collaboration
- P. Novella
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- B. Palmeiro
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- M. Sorel
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- A. Usón
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- P. Ferrario
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science
- J. J. Gómez-Cadenas
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science
- C. Adams
- Department of Physics, Harvard University
- V. Álvarez
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- L. Arazi
- Nuclear Engineering Unit, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, |Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
- I. J. Arnquist
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
- C. D. R Azevedo
- Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication (i3N), Universidade de Aveiro
- K. Bailey
- Argonne National Laboratory
- F. Ballester
- Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M), Centro Mixto CSIC — Universitat Politècnica de Val̀encia
- J. M. Benlloch-Rodríguez
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- F. I. G. M. Borges
- LIP, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra
- N. Byrnes
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington
- S. Cárcel
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- J. V. Carrión
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- S. Cebrían
- Laboratorio de Física Nuclear y Astropartículas, Universidad de Zaragoza
- E. Church
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
- C. A. N. Conde
- LIP, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra
- T. Contreras
- Department of Physics, Harvard University
- G. Díaz
- Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC)
- J. Díaz
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- M. Diesburg
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
- J. Escada
- LIP, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra
- R. Esteve
- Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M), Centro Mixto CSIC — Universitat Politècnica de Val̀encia
- R. Felkai
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- A. F. M. Fernandes
- LIBPhys, Physics Department, University of Coimbra
- L. M. P. Fernandes
- LIBPhys, Physics Department, University of Coimbra
- A. L. Ferreira
- Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication (i3N), Universidade de Aveiro
- E. D. C. Freitas
- LIBPhys, Physics Department, University of Coimbra
- J. Generowicz
- Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC)
- S. Ghosh
- Department of Physics, Harvard University
- A. Goldschmidt
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
- D. Gonźalez-Díaz
- Instituto Gallego de Física de Altas Energías, Univ. de Santiago de Compostela
- R. Guenette
- Department of Physics, Harvard University
- R. M. Gutiérrez
- Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Antonio Nariño
- J. Haefner
- Department of Physics, Harvard University
- K. Hafidi
- Argonne National Laboratory
- J. Hauptman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
- C. A. O. Henriques
- LIBPhys, Physics Department, University of Coimbra
- J. A. Hernando Morata
- Instituto Gallego de Física de Altas Energías, Univ. de Santiago de Compostela
- P. Herrero
- Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC)
- V. Herrero
- Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M), Centro Mixto CSIC — Universitat Politècnica de Val̀encia
- Y. Ifergan
- Nuclear Engineering Unit, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, |Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
- S. Johnston
- Argonne National Laboratory
- B. J. P. Jones
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington
- M. Kekic
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- L. Labarga
- Departamento de Física Teórica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
- A. Laing
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington
- P. Lebrun
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
- N. López-March
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- M. Losada
- Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Antonio Nariño
- R. D. P. Mano
- LIBPhys, Physics Department, University of Coimbra
- J. Martín-Albo
- Department of Physics, Harvard University
- A. Martínez
- Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC)
- G. Martínez-Lema
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- A. D. McDonald
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington
- F. Monrabal
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science
- C. M. B. Monteiro
- LIBPhys, Physics Department, University of Coimbra
- F. J. Mora
- Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M), Centro Mixto CSIC — Universitat Politècnica de Val̀encia
- J. Muñoz Vidal
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- D. R. Nygren
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington
- A. Para
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
- J. Pérez
- Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc
- F. Psihas
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington
- M. Querol
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- J. Renner
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- J. Repond
- Argonne National Laboratory
- S. Riordan
- Argonne National Laboratory
- L. Ripoll
- Escola Politécnica Superior, Universitat de Girona
- Y. Rodríguez García
- Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Antonio Nariño
- J. Rodríguez
- Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M), Centro Mixto CSIC — Universitat Politècnica de Val̀encia
- L. Rogers
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington
- B. Romeo
- Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc
- C. Romo-Luque
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- F. P. Santos
- LIP, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra
- J. M. F. dos Santos
- LIBPhys, Physics Department, University of Coimbra
- A. Simón
- Nuclear Engineering Unit, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, |Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
- C. Sofka
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University
- T. Stiegler
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University
- J. F. Toledo
- Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M), Centro Mixto CSIC — Universitat Politècnica de Val̀encia
- J. Torrent
- Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC)
- J. F. C. A. Veloso
- Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication (i3N), Universidade de Aveiro
- R. Webb
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University
- R. Weiss-Babai
- Nuclear Engineering Unit, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, |Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
- J. T. White
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University
- K. Woodruff
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington
- N. Yahlali
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de Valéncia
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2019)051
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 2019,
no. 10
pp. 1 – 26
Abstract
Abstract Natural radioactivity represents one of the main backgrounds in the search for neutrinoless double beta decay. Within the NEXT physics program, the radioactivity- induced backgrounds are measured with the NEXT-White detector. Data from 37.9 days of low-background operations at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc with xenon depleted in 136Xe are analyzed to derive a total background rate of (0.84±0.02) mHz above 1000 keV. The comparison of data samples with and without the use of the radon abatement system demonstrates that the contribution of airborne-Rn is negligible. A radiogenic background model is built upon the extensive radiopurity screening campaign conducted by the NEXT collaboration. A spectral fit to this model yields the specific contributions of 60Co, 40K, 214Bi and 208Tl to the total background rate, as well as their location in the detector volumes. The results are used to evaluate the impact of the radiogenic backgrounds in the double beta decay analyses, after the application of topological cuts that reduce the total rate to (0.25±0.01) mHz. Based on the best-fit background model, the NEXT-White median sensitivity to the two-neutrino double beta decay is found to be 3.5σ after 1 year of data taking. The background measurement in a Q ββ ±100 keV energy window validates the best-fit background model also for the neutrinoless double beta decay search with NEXT-100. Only one event is found, while the model expectation is (0.75±0.12) events.
Keywords
