학술논문
Search for Neutrinoless $\beta^+EC$ Decay of $^{120}$Te with CUORE
Document Type
Working Paper
Author
Adams, D. Q.; Alduino, C.; Alfonso, K.; Avignone III, F. T.; Azzolini, O.; Bari, G.; Bellini, F.; Benato, G.; Beretta, M.; Biassoni, M.; Branca, A.; Brofferio, C.; Bucci, C.; Camilleri, J.; Caminata, A.; Campani, A.; Canonica, L.; Cao, X. G.; Capelli, C.; Capelli, S.; Cappelli, L.; Cardani, L.; Carniti, P.; Casali, N.; Celi, E.; Chiesa, D.; Clemenza, M.; Copello, S.; Cremonesi, O.; Creswick, R. J.; D'Addabbo, A.; Dafinei, I.; Del Corso, F.; Dell'Oro, S.; Di Domizio, S.; Di Lorenzo, S.; Dompè, V.; Fang, D. Q.; Fantini, G.; Faverzani, M.; Ferri, E.; Ferroni, F.; Fiorini, E.; Franceschi, M. A.; Freedman, S. J.; Fu, S. H.; Fujikawa, B. K.; Ghislandi, S.; Giachero, A.; Gianvecchio, A.; Gironi, L.; Giuliani, A.; Gorla, P.; Gotti, C.; Gutierrez, T. D.; Han, K.; Hansen, E. V.; Heeger, K. M.; Huang, R. G.; Huang, H. Z.; Johnston, J.; Keppel, G.; Kolomensky, Yu. G.; Kowalski, R.; Ligi, C.; Liu, R.; Ma, L.; Ma, Y. G.; Marini, L.; Maruyama, R. H.; Mayer, D.; Mei, Y.; Morganti, S.; Napolitano, T.; Nastasi, M.; Nikkel, J.; Nones, C.; Norman, E. B.; Nucciotti, A.; Nutini, I.; O'Donnell, T.; Olmi, M.; Ouellet, J. L.; Pagan, S.; Pagliarone, C. E.; Pagnanini, L.; Pallavicini, M.; Pattavina, L.; Pavan, M.; Pessina, G.; Pettinacci, V.; Pira, C.; Pirro, S.; Pozzi, S.; Previtali, E.; Puiu, A.; Quitadamo, S.; Ressa, A.; Rosenfeld, C.; Sakai, M.; Sangiorgio, S.; Schmidt, B.; Scielzo, N. D.; Sharma, V.; Singh, V.; Sisti, M.; Speller, D.; Surukuchi, P. T.; Taffarello, L.; Terranova, F.; Tomei, C.; Vetter, K. J.; Vignati, M.; Wagaarachchi, S. L.; Wang, B. S.; Welliver, B.; Wilson, J.; Wilson, K.; Winslow, L. A.; Zimmermann, S.; Zucchelli, S.
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Abstract
CUORE is a large scale cryogenic experiment searching for neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) in $^{130}$Te. The CUORE detector is made of natural tellurium, providing the possibility of rare event searches on isotopes other than $^{130}$Te. In this work we describe a search for neutrinoless positron emitting electron capture ($0\nu\beta^+EC$) decay in $^{120}$Te with a total TeO$_2$ exposure of 355.7 kg $\cdot$ yr, corresponding to 0.2405 kg $\cdot$ yr of $^{120}$Te. Albeit $0 \nu \beta\beta$ with two final state electrons represents the most promising channel, the emission of a positron and two 511-keV $\gamma$s make $0\nu\beta^+EC$ decay signature extremely clear. To fully exploit the potential offered by the detector modularity we include events with different topology and perform a simultaneous fit of five selected signal signatures. Using blinded data we extract a median exclusion sensitivity of $3.4 \cdot 10^{22}$ yr at 90% Credibility Interval (C.I.). After unblinding we find no evidence of $0\nu\beta^+EC$ signal and set a 90% C.I. Bayesian lower limit of $2.9 \cdot 10^{22}$ yr on $^{120}$Te half-life. This result improves by an order of magnitude the existing limit from the combined analysis of CUORE-0 and Cuoricino.