Abstract
The NEXT experiment aims at the sensitive search of the neutrinoless double beta decay in 136Xe, using high-pressure gas electroluminescent time projection chambers. The NEXT-White detector is the first radiopure demonstrator of this technology, operated in the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc. Achieving an energy resolution of 1% FWHM at 2.6 MeV and further background rejection by means of the topology of the reconstructed tracks, NEXT-White has been exploited beyond its original goals in order to perform a neu- trinoless double beta decay search. The analysis considers the combination of 271.6 days of 136Xe-enriched data and 208.9 days of 136Xe-depleted data. A detailed background modeling and measurement has been developed, ensuring the time stability of the radiogenic and cosmogenic contributions across both data samples. Limits to the neutrinoless mode are obtained in two alternative analyses: a background-model-dependent approach and a novel direct background-subtraction technique, offering results with small dependence on the background model assumptions. With a fiducial mass of only 3.50 ± 0.01 kg of 136Xe-enriched xenon, 90% C.L. lower limits to the neutrinoless double beta decay are found in the \( {T}_{1/2}^{0\nu } \) > 5.5 × 1023 − 1.3 × 1024 yr range, depending on the method. The presented techniques stand as a proof-of-concept for the searches to be implemented with larger NEXT detectors.
![](http://media.springernature.com/lw685/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2FJHEP09%282023%29190/MediaObjects/13130_2023_21870_Figa_HTML.png)
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
A. Barabash, Precise half-life values for two-neutrino double-β decay: 2020 review, Universe 6 (2020) 159 [arXiv:2009.14451] [INSPIRE].
KamLAND-Zen collaboration, Search for the Majorana nature of neutrinos in the inverted mass ordering region with KamLAND-Zen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130 (2023) 051801 [arXiv:2203.02139] [INSPIRE].
GERDA collaboration, First search for bosonic superweakly interacting massive particles with masses up to 1 MeV/c2 with GERDA, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125 (2020) 011801 [Erratum ibid. 129 (2022) 089901] [arXiv:2005.14184] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, The NEXT-White (NEW) detector, 2018 JINST 13 P12010 [arXiv:1804.02409] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Energy calibration of the NEXT-White detector with 1% resolution near Qββ of 136Xe, JHEP 10 (2019) 230 [arXiv:1905.13110] [INSPIRE].
M. Redshaw, E. Wingfield, J. McDaniel and E.G. Myers, Mass and double-β-decay Q value of 136Xe, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 (2007) 053003 [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Demonstration of the event identification capabilities of the NEXT-White detector, JHEP 10 (2019) 052 [arXiv:1905.13141] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Boosting background suppression in the NEXT experiment through Richardson-Lucy deconvolution, JHEP 07 (2021) 146 [arXiv:2102.11931] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Demonstration of background rejection using deep convolutional neural networks in the NEXT experiment, JHEP 01 (2021) 189 [arXiv:2009.10783] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Radiogenic backgrounds in the NEXT double beta decay experiment, JHEP 10 (2019) 051 [arXiv:1905.13625] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Sensitivity of a tonne-scale NEXT detector for neutrinoless double beta decay searches, JHEP 08 (2021) 164 [arXiv:2005.06467] [INSPIRE].
B.J.P. Jones, A.D. McDonald and D.R. Nygren, Single molecule fluorescence imaging as a technique for barium tagging in neutrinoless double beta decay, 2016 JINST 11 P12011 [arXiv:1609.04019] [INSPIRE].
A.D. McDonald et al., Demonstration of single barium ion sensitivity for neutrinoless double beta decay using single molecule fluorescence imaging, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120 (2018) 132504 [arXiv:1711.04782] [INSPIRE].
P. Thapa et al., Barium chemosensors with dry-phase fluorescence for neutrinoless double beta decay, Sci. Rep. 9 (2019) 15097 [arXiv:1904.05901] [INSPIRE].
I. Rivilla et al., Fluorescent bicolour sensor for low-background neutrinoless double β decay experiments, Nature 583 (2020) 48 [INSPIRE].
P. Thapa et al., Demonstration of selective single-barium ion detection with dry diazacrown ether naphthalimide turn-on chemosensors, ACS Sensors 6 (2021) 192.
NEXT collaboration, Ba+2 ion trapping using organic submonolayer for ultra-low background neutrinoless double beta detector, Nature Commun. 13 (2022) 7741 [arXiv:2201.09099] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Sensitivity of NEXT-100 to neutrinoless double beta decay, JHEP 05 (2016) 159 [arXiv:1511.09246] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Measurement of the 136Xe two-neutrino double-β-decay half-life via direct background subtraction in NEXT, Phys. Rev. C 105 (2022) 055501 [arXiv:2111.11091] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Near-intrinsic energy resolution for 30 to 662 keV gamma rays in a high pressure xenon electroluminescent TPC, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 708 (2013) 101 [arXiv:1211.4474] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, First proof of topological signature in the high pressure xenon gas TPC with electroluminescence amplification for the NEXT experiment, JHEP 01 (2016) 104 [arXiv:1507.05902] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Measurement of radon-induced backgrounds in the NEXT double beta decay experiment, JHEP 10 (2018) 112 [arXiv:1804.00471] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Calibration of the NEXT-White detector using 83mKr decays, 2018 JINST 13 P10014 [arXiv:1804.01780] [INSPIRE].
GEANT4 physics reference manual, https://geant4-userdoc.web.cern.ch/UsersGuides/PhysicsReferenceManual/html/index.html.
NEXT collaboration, Electron drift properties in high pressure gaseous xenon, 2018 JINST 13 P07013 [arXiv:1804.01680] [INSPIRE].
C.M.B. Monteiro et al., Secondary scintillation yield in pure xenon, 2007 JINST 2 P05001 [physics/0702142] [INSPIRE].
O.A. Ponkratenko, V.I. Tretyak and Y.G. Zdesenko, The event generator DECAY4 for simulation of double beta processes and decay of radioactive nuclei, Phys. Atom. Nucl. 63 (2000) 1282 [nucl-ex/0104018] [INSPIRE].
T.H. Cormen, C. Stein, R.L. Rivest and C.E. Leiserson, Introduction to algorithms, second edition, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, U.S.A. (2001).
V. Alvarez et al., Radiopurity control in the NEXT-100 double beta decay experiment: procedures and initial measurements, 2013 JINST 8 T01002 [arXiv:1211.3961] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Radiopurity assessment of the tracking readout for the NEXT double beta decay experiment, 2015 JINST 10 P05006 [arXiv:1411.1433] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Radiopurity assessment of the energy readout for the NEXT double beta decay experiment, 2017 JINST 12 T08003 [arXiv:1706.06012] [INSPIRE].
E. Browne and J.K. Tuli, Nuclear data sheets for A = 137, Nucl. Data Sheets 108 (2007) 2173 [INSPIRE].
W.H. Trzaska et al., Cosmic-ray muon flux at Canfranc Underground Laboratory, Eur. Phys. J. C 79 (2019) 721 [arXiv:1902.00868] [INSPIRE].
NEXT collaboration, Mitigation of backgrounds from cosmogenic 137Xe in xenon gas experiments using 3He neutron capture, J. Phys. G 47 (2020) 075001 [arXiv:2001.11147] [INSPIRE].
M.B. Chadwick et al., ENDF/B-VII.1 nuclear data for science and technology: cross sections, covariances, fission product yields and decay data, Nucl. Data Sheets 112 (2011) 2887 [INSPIRE].
S.F. Mughabghab, Atlas of neutron resonances: resonance parameters and thermal cross sections. Z = 1–100, Elsevier, The Netherlands (2006).
J.B. Albert et al., Measurement of neutron capture on 136Xe, Phys. Rev. C 94 (2016) 034617 [arXiv:1605.05794] [INSPIRE].
EXO-200 collaboration, Improved measurement of the 2νββ half-life of 136Xe with the EXO-200 detector, Phys. Rev. C 89 (2014) 015502 [arXiv:1306.6106] [INSPIRE].
J. Kotila and F. Iachello, Phase space factors for double-β decay, Phys. Rev. C 85 (2012) 034316 [arXiv:1209.5722] [INSPIRE].
M. Agostini et al., Toward the discovery of matter creation with neutrinoless ββ decay, Rev. Mod. Phys. 95 (2023) 025002 [arXiv:2202.01787] [INSPIRE].
J. Menéndez, Neutrinoless ββ decay mediated by the exchange of light and heavy neutrinos: the role of nuclear structure correlations, J. Phys. G 45 (2018) 014003 [arXiv:1804.02105] [INSPIRE].
M. Horoi and A. Neacsu, Shell model predictions for 124Sn double-β decay, Phys. Rev. C 93 (2016) 024308 [arXiv:1511.03711] [INSPIRE].
L. Coraggio et al., Calculation of the neutrinoless double-β decay matrix element within the realistic shell model, Phys. Rev. C 101 (2020) 044315 [arXiv:2001.00890] [INSPIRE].
L. Coraggio et al., Shell-model calculation of 100Mo double-β decay, Phys. Rev. C 105 (2022) 034312 [arXiv:2203.01013] [INSPIRE].
M.T. Mustonen and J. Engel, Large-scale calculations of the double-β decay of 76Ge, 130Te, 136Xe, and 150Nd in the deformed self-consistent Skyrme quasiparticle random-phase approximation, Phys. Rev. C 87 (2013) 064302 [arXiv:1301.6997] [INSPIRE].
J. Hyvärinen and J. Suhonen, Nuclear matrix elements for 0νββ decays with light or heavy Majorana-neutrino exchange, Phys. Rev. C 91 (2015) 024613 [INSPIRE].
F. Šimkovic, A. Smetana and P. Vogel, 0νββ nuclear matrix elements, neutrino potentials and SU(4) symmetry, Phys. Rev. C 98 (2018) 064325 [arXiv:1808.05016] [INSPIRE].
D.-L. Fang, A. Faessler and F. Simkovic, 0νββ-decay nuclear matrix element for light and heavy neutrino mass mechanisms from deformed quasiparticle random-phase approximation calculations for 76Ge, 82Se, 130Te, 136Xe, and 150Nd with isospin restoration, Phys. Rev. C 97 (2018) 045503 [arXiv:1803.09195] [INSPIRE].
J. Terasaki, Strength of the isoscalar pairing interaction determined by a relation between double-charge change and double-pair transfer for double-β decay, Phys. Rev. C 102 (2020) 044303 [arXiv:2003.03542] [INSPIRE].
T.R. Rodriguez and G. Martinez-Pinedo, Energy density functional study of nuclear matrix elements for neutrinoless ββ decay, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105 (2010) 252503 [arXiv:1008.5260] [INSPIRE].
N. López Vaquero, T.R. Rodríguez and J.L. Egido, Shape and pairing fluctuations effects on neutrinoless double beta decay nuclear matrix elements, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111 (2013) 142501 [arXiv:1401.0650] [INSPIRE].
L.S. Song, J.M. Yao, P. Ring and J. Meng, Nuclear matrix element of neutrinoless double-β decay: relativity and short-range correlations, Phys. Rev. C 95 (2017) 024305 [arXiv:1702.02448] [INSPIRE].
J. Barea, J. Kotila and F. Iachello, 0νββ and 2νββ nuclear matrix elements in the interacting boson model with isospin restoration, Phys. Rev. C 91 (2015) 034304 [arXiv:1506.08530] [INSPIRE].
F.F. Deppisch, L. Graf, F. Iachello and J. Kotila, Analysis of light neutrino exchange and short-range mechanisms in 0νββ decay, Phys. Rev. D 102 (2020) 095016 [arXiv:2009.10119] [INSPIRE].
Acknowledgments
The NEXT Collaboration acknowledges support from the following agencies and institutions: the European Research Council (ERC) under Grant Agreement No. 951281-BOLD; the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (2014–2020) under Grant Agreement No. 957202-HIDDEN; the MCIN/AEI of Spain and ERDF A way of making Europe under grants PID2021-125475NB and the Severo Ochoa Program grant CEX2018-000867-S; the Generalitat Valenciana of Spain under grants PROMETEO/2021/087 and CIDEGENT/2019/049; the Department of Education of the Basque Government of Spain under the predoctoral training program non-doctoral research personnel; the Spanish la Caixa Foundation (ID 100010434) under fellowship code LCF/BQ/PI22/11910019; the Portuguese FCT under project UID/FIS/04559/2020 to fund the activities of LIBPhys-UC; the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) under grant 1223/21; the Pazy Foundation (Israel) under grants 310/22, 315/19 and 465; the US Department of Energy under contracts number DE-AC02-06CH11357 (Argonne National Laboratory), DE-AC02-07CH11359 (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory), DE-FG02-13ER42020 (Texas A&M), DE-SC0019054 (Texas Arlington) and DE-SC0019223 (Texas Arlington); the US National Science Foundation under award number NSF CHE 2004111; the Robert A Welch Foundation under award number Y-2031-20200401. Finally, we are grateful to the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc for hosting and supporting the NEXT experiment.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
ArXiv ePrint: 2305.09435
NEXT spokesperson. (J. J. Gómez-Cadenas)
Deceased (J. T. White)
Rights and permissions
Open Access . This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
The NEXT collaboration., Novella, P., Sorel, M. et al. Demonstration of neutrinoless double beta decay searches in gaseous xenon with NEXT. J. High Energ. Phys. 2023, 190 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2023)190
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2023)190