Mainz 2012 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 40: Astroteilchenphysik

HK 40.2: Gruppenbericht

Donnerstag, 22. März 2012, 17:00–17:30, RW 3

The GERDA experiment on the 0nbb decay — •Fabiana Cossavella — Max-Plank-Institut für Physik, München

The Germanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment searches for neutrinoless double beta decay of ⁷⁶Ge, a test of whether neutrinos are identical with their anti-particles, i.e. of Majorana type, or distinct from them, i.e. of Dirac type. Neutrinoless double beta decay could not only establish the charge-conjugation character of neutrinos, but also place a limit on the effective neutrino mass and probe the neutrino mass hierarchy.

Germanium crystals enriched in ⁷⁶Ge, acting as source and detector, will be submerged in an ultra-pure cryogenic liquid that serves as cooling medium and shields against radiation. This allows for a background reduction of up to two orders of magnitude better than earlier experiments.

GERDA started the technical runs in 2010, with a pilot string of 3 non-enriched Ge detector. In 2011 measurements with enriched germanium detectors have been started: the results from the first years of data taking will be presented.