Searching for neutrinoless double beta decay with GERDA
Creators: name: GERDA Collaboration
name: Agostini, M.
name: Bakalyarov, A. M.
name: Balata, M.
name: Barabanov, I.
name: Baudis, L.
name: Bauer, C.
name: Bellotti, E.
name: Belogurov, S.
name: Bettini, A.
name: Bezrukov, L.
name: Bode, T.
name: Brudanin, V.
name: Brugnera, R.
name: Caldwell, A.
name: Cattadori, C.
name: Chernogorov, A.
name: D'Andrea, V.
name: Demidova, E. V.
name: Di Marco, N.
name: Domula, A.
name: Doroshkevich, E.
name: Egorov, V.
name: Falkenstein, R.
name: Gangapshev, A.
name: Garfagnini, A.
name: Gooch, C.
name: Grabmayr, P.
name: Gurentsov, V.
name: Gusev, K.
name: Hakenmüller, J.
name: Hegai, A.
name: Heisel, M.
name: Hemmer, S.
name: Hiller, R.
name: Hofmann, W.
name: Hult, M.
name: Inzhechik, L. V.
name: Csáthy, J. Janicskó
name: Jochum, J.
name: Junker, M.
name: Kazalov, V.
name: Kermaidic, Y.
name: Kihm, T.
name: Kirpichnikov, I. V.
name: Kirsch, A.
name: Kish, A.
name: Klimenko, A.
name: Kneißl, R.
name: Knöpfle, K. T.
name: Kochetov, O.
name: Kornoukhov, V. N.
name: Kuzminov, V. V.
name: Laubenstein, M.
name: Lazzaro, A.
name: Lebedev, V. I.
name: Lindner, M.
name: Lippi, I.
name: Lubashevskiy, A.
name: Lubsandorzhiev, B.
name: Lutter, G.
name: Macolino, C.
name: Majorovits, B.
name: Maneschg, W.
name: Miloradovic, M.
name: Mingazheva, R.
name: Misiaszek, M.
name: Moseev, P.
name: Nemchenok, I.
name: Panas, K.
name: Pandola, L.
name: Pullia, A.
name: Ransom, C.
name: Riboldi, S.
name: Rumyantseva, N.
name: Sada, C.
name: Salamida, F.
name: Schmitt, C.
name: Schneider, B.
name: Schreiner, J.
name: Schulz, O.
name: Schwingenheuer, B.
name: Schönert, S.
name: Schütz, A-K.
name: Selivanenko, O.
name: Shevchik, E.
name: Shirchenko, M.
name: Simgen, H.
name: Smolnikov, A.
name: Stanco, L.
name: Vanhoefer, L.
name: Vasenko, A. A.
name: Veresnikova, A.
name: von Sturm, K.
name: Wagner, V.
name: Wegmann, A.
name: Wester, T.
name: Wiesinger, C.
name: Wojcik, M.
name: Yanovich, E.
name: Zhitnikov, I.
name: Zhukov, S. V.
name: Zinatulina, D.
name: Zsigmond, A. J.
name: Zuber, K.
name: Zuzel, G.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex)
subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment located at the INFN Gran Sasso Laboratory (Italy), is looking for the neutrinoless double beta decay of Ge76, by using high-purity germanium detectors made from isotopically enriched material. The combination of the novel experimental design, the careful material selection for radio-purity and the active/passive shielding techniques result in a very low residual background at the Q-value of the decay, about 1e-3 counts/(keV kg yr). This makes GERDA the first experiment in the field to be background-free for the complete design exposure of 100 kg yr. A search for neutrinoless double beta decay was performed with a total exposure of 47.7 kg yr: 23.2 kg yr come from the second phase (Phase II) of the experiment, in which the background is reduced by about a factor of ten with respect to the previous phase. The analysis presented in this paper includes 12.4 kg yr of new Phase II data. No evidence for a possible signal is found: the lower limit for the half-life of Ge76 is 8.0e25 yr at 90% CL. The experimental median sensitivity is 5.8e25 yr. The experiment is currently taking data. As it is running in a background-free regime, its sensitivity grows linearly with exposure and it is expected to surpass 1e26 yr within 2018.
description: 8 pages, to appear in the proceedings of TAUP2017