Darmstadt 2016 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 41: Astroparticle Physics II

HK 41.2: Group Report

Wednesday, March 16, 2016, 17:00–17:30, S1/01 A02

Status of the Gerda Phase II experiment — •Andrea Lazzaro for the GERDA collaboration — Physik-Department and Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München, Germany

The Gerda experiment searches for the neutrinoless double beta decay (0ν ββ) in ⁷⁶Ge. The first phase of the experiment collected 21.6 kg· yr of exposure with a background index (BI) of 0.01 cts/(keV· kg · yr). No signal was observed and a lower limit for the 0ν ββ half-life was set to T_1/2^{0ν ββ} < 2.1· 10²⁵ yr (90% C.L).

The apparatus has now been upgraded to the Phase II configuration. In Phase II 38 kg of HPGe detectors will be operated to reach an exposure of 100 kg· yr. The goal of Gerda Phase II is to lower the BI to 10⁻³ cts/(keV·kg·y), in order to reach the sensitivity for T_1/2^{0ν ββ} = O(10²⁶) yr.

The additional target mass is constituted of 30 custom made BEGe detectors with higher energy resolution and better pulse shape discrimination performance. The detectors are operated in new radio-pure low-mass holders. The liquid argon surrounding the detectors has been instrumented to veto the background events which produce scintillation light.

In this talk the current status and the performance of the Gerda Phase II will be presented.

This work has been partially funded by BMBF.