Improved Limit on Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay in $^{130}$Te with CUORE
Abstract
We report new results from the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in $^{130}$Te with the CUORE detector. This search benefits from a four-fold increase in exposure, lower trigger thresholds and analysis improvements relative to our previous results. We observe a background of $(1.38\pm0.07)\cdot10^{-2}$ counts$/($keV$\cdot$kg$\cdot$yr$)$ in the $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay region of interest and, with a total exposure of 372.5 kg$\cdot$yr, we attain a median exclusion sensitivity of $1.7\cdot10^{25}$ yr. We find no evidence for $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay and set a $90\%$ CI Bayesian lower limit of $3.2\cdot10^{25}$ yr on the $^{130}$Te half-life for this process. In the hypothesis that $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay is mediated by light Majorana neutrinos, this results in an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass of 75-350 meV, depending on the nuclear matrix elements used.
- Publication:
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arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1912.10966
- Bibcode:
- 2019arXiv191210966C
- Keywords:
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- Nuclear Experiment
- E-Print:
- 7 pages, 5 figures