A circulating hydrogen ultra-high purification system for the MuCap experiment
The MuCap experiment is a high-precision measurement of the rate for the basic electroweak process of muon capture, μ − +p→n+ ν μ . The experimental approach is based on an active target consisting of a time projection chamber (TPC) operating with pure hydrogen gas. The hydrogen has to be kept extremely pure and at a stable pressure. A Circulating Hydrogen Ultra-high Purification System was designed at the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI) to continuously clean the hydrogen from impurities. The system is based on an adsorption cryo pump to stimulate the hydrogen flow and on a cold adsorbent for the hydrogen cleaning. It was installed at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in 2004 and performed reliably during three experiment runs. During several months long operating periods the system maintained the hydrogen purity in the detector on the level of 20 ppb for moisture, which is the main contaminant, and of better than 7 and 5 ppb for nitrogen and oxygen, respectively. The pressure inside the TPC was stabilized to within 0.024% of 10 bar at a hydrogen flow rate of three standard liters per minute.

title: Validation of techniques to mitigate copper surface contamination in CUORE
abstract: In this article we describe the background challenges for the CUORE experiment posed by surface contamination of inert detector materials such as copper, and present three techniques explored to mitigate these backgrounds. Using data from a dedicated test apparatus constructed to validate and compare these techniques we demonstrate that copper surface contamination levels better than 10(-7)- 10(-8) Bq/cm(2) are achieved for U-238 and Th-232. If these levels are reproduced in the final CUORE apparatus the projected 90% C.L. upper limit on the number of background counts in the region of interest is 0.02-0.03 counts/keV/kg/y depending on the adopted mitigation technique.

title: The CUORICINO and CUORE neutrinoless double beta decay experiments

title: Sensitivity of CUORE to Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay
abstract: Sensitivity of CUORE to Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay b c,:L d e f F . Alessandria , E . A n d r e o t t i ' , R. A r d i t o , C. Arnaboldi , F . T. Avignone IIP , M . B a l a t a , I. Bandac , T. I. Banks ' ' , G . B a r f , J . Beeman , F . Bellini ' , A . Bersani , M . Biassoni ' , T. Bloxham , C. Brofferio ' , A . Bryant , C. B u c c i , X . Z. C a i , L . C a n o n i c a , S. C a p e l l i , L . Carbone , L . Cardani ' , M . Carrettoni , N . Casali ' , N . Chott , M . Clemenza ' , C. Cosmelli ' , O. Cremonesi , R. J . Creswick , I. Dafinei , A . Dally , A . De B i a s i , M . R Decowski ' ' , M . M . Deninno , A . de Waard , S. D i D o m i z i o ' , L . Ejzak '*, R. Faccini ' , D. Q. Fang , H . A . Farach , E . Ferri '°, F . Ferroni , E . F i o r i n i , L . F o g g e t t a ' ° , M . A . Franceschi*, S. J . Freedman G . Frossati , B . K . Fujikawa , A . Giachero , L . Gironi '°, A . Giuliani , P. G o r l a , C. G o t t i , E . Guardincerri , T. D . Gutierrez ,  H a l l e r ' , K . Han , K . M . Heeger , H . Z. Huang*', K . Ichimura , R. KadeP, K . K a z k a z , G .  Kogler ' , Y u . G . Kolomensky ' , S. K r a f t ' , D . Lenz , Y . L . L i , X . L i # , E . Longo ' , Y . G . M a . C. M a i a n o ' , G . M a i e r , M . M a i n o ' , C. Mancini ' , C. Martinez , M . M a r t i n e z , R. H . M a r u y a m a , N . Moggi , S. Morganti , T. Napolitano*, S. Newman ' , S. N i s i , C. N o n e s ' ' ,  Ouellet ' , M . Pallavicini ' , V . Palmieri , L . Pattavina , M . P a v a n ' , M . P e d r e t t i , G . Pessina , S. P i r r o , E . P r e v i t a l i , V . Rampazzo , F . R i m o n d i J , C. Rosenfeld , C. Rusconi , C. S a l v i o n i , S. Sangiorgio '*, D . Schaeffer ' , N . D . Scielzo , M . S i s t i ' , A . R. S m i t h , F . Stivanello , L . Taffarello , G . Terenziani , W . D . T i a n , C. Tornei , S. Trentalange*', G . V e n t u r a ' , M . Vignati ' , B . S. W a n g ' , H . W . W a n g , C. A . Whitten J r . - \ T. Wise . A . Woodcraft , N . X u , L . Z a n o t t i ' , C. Zarra , B . X . Zhu*', S. Zucchelli J k e j w k x c c e , c b e c ab ah c (CUORE e a a c a c j e c c m aa c b,c aa,q af e a c q a a f ae a8 c ad, aa aa c e c n v e f p d e,c b c e e e c f c e s e e,c c f p,n f v ad Collaboration) a INFN - Sezione di Milano, Milano 1-20133 - Italy di Fisica e Matematica, Universita dell'Insubria, Como 1-22100 - Italy INFN - Sezione di Milano Bicocca, Milano 1-20126 - Italy Dipartimento di Ingegneria Strutturale, Politecnico di Milano, Milano 1-20133 - Italy Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Milano-Bicocca, Milano 1-20126 - Italy fDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208 - USA INFN - Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi (L'Aquila) 1-67010 - Italy Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 - USA 'Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94-720 - USA UN FN - Sezione di Bologna, Bologna 1-40127 - Italy Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 - USA 'Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Universita di Roma, Roma 1-00185 - Italy INFN - Sezione di Roma, Roma 1-00185 - Italy INFN - Sezione di Genova, Genova 1-16146 - Italy Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Shanghai 201800 - China Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Genova, Genova I-I6I46 - Italy Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 - USA INFN - Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Legnaro (Padova) 1-35020 - Italy Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium, Leiden University, Leiden, RA 2300 - The Netherlands INFN - Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Frascati (Roma) 1-00044 - Italy Centre de Spectrometrie Nucleaire et de Spectrometrie de Masse, 914-05 Orsay Campus - France b Dipartimento C d g h k M p q r f INFN - Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma 1-00133 - Italy ' 'Physics Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 934-07 - USA ^Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94-720 - USA Department of Physics and Astronoma, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095 - USA Physics Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94-720 - USA Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94-550 - USA Laboratorio de Fisica Nuclear y Astroparticulas, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza 50009 - Spain Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94-720 - USA Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Bologna, Bologna 1-4-0127 - Italy EH&S Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94-720 - USA flNFN - Sezione di Padova, Padova 1-35131 - Italy Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Firenze, Firenze 1-50125 - Italy INFN - Sezione di Firenze, Firenze 1-50125 - Italy SUPA, Institute for Astronoma, University of Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ - UK v aa ab ac ad ae a ag ah al * C o r r e s p o n d i n g author Email addresses: e j z a k 8 w i s c . e d u ( L . E j z a k ) , s a n g i o r g i o l 8 1 1 n l . g o v (S. Sangiorgio) Presently at: Joint Research Center, Institute for Reference M a t e r i a l s and Measurements, 2440 Geel - B e l g i u m P r e s e n t l y at: Nikhef, 1098 X G A m s t e r d a m - T h e Netherlands P r e s e n t l y at: L o s A l a m o s N a t i o n a l L a b o r a t o r y , L o s A l a m o s , N M 87545 - U S A P r e s e n t l y at: C E A / Saclay, 91191 G i f - s u r - Y v e t t e - France Deceased Preprint submitted to Astroparticle Physics December

title: Measurement of the 8B solar neutrino flux with the KamLAND liquid scintillator detector
abstract: We report a measurement of the neutrino-electron elastic scattering rate from ^8B solar neutrinos based on a 123 kton-day exposure of KamLAND. The background-subtracted electron recoil rate, above a 5.5-MeV analysis threshold is 1.49 ± 0.14(stat) ± 0.17(syst) events per kton-day. Interpreted as due to a pure electron flavor flux with a ^8B neutrino spectrum, this corresponds to a spectrum integrated flux of 2.77 ± 0.26(stat) ± 0.32(syst) ×10^6 cm^(−2_s^(−1). The analysis threshold is driven by ^(208)Tl present in the liquid scintillator, and the main source of systematic uncertainty is due to background from cosmogenic ^(11)Be. The measured rate is consistent with existing measurements and with standard solar model predictions which include matter-enhanced neutrino oscillation.

title: Search for 14.4 keV solar axions from M1 transition of Fe-57 with CUORE crystals
abstract: We report the results of a search for axions from the 14.4 keV M1 transition from Fe-57 in the core of the sun using the axio-electric effect in TeO2 bolometers. The detectors are 5x5x5 cm(3) crystals operated at about 10 mK in a facility used to test bolometers for the CUORE experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. An analysis of 43.65 kg.d of data was made using a newly developed low energy trigger which was optimized to reduce the energy threshold of the detector. An upper limit of 0.58 c.kg(-1).d(-1) is established at 95% C.L., which translates into lower bounds f(A) >= 3.12 x 10(5) GeV 95% C.L. (DFSZ model) and f(A) >= 2.41 x 10(4) GeV 95% C.L. (KSVZ model) on the Peccei-Quinn symmetry-breaking scale, for a value of S = 0.5 of the flavor-singlet axial vector matrix element. These bounds can be expressed in terms of axion masses as m(A) <= 19.2 eV and m(A) <= 250 eV at 95% C.L. in the DFSZ and KSVZ models respectively. Bounds are given also for the interval 0.35 <= S <= 0.55.

title: Some Thoughts on the Quantum Theory of Stable de Sitter Space
abstract: I review and update ideas about the quantum theory of de Sitter space. New results include a quantum relation between energy and entropy of states in the causal patch, which is satisfied by small dS black holes. I also discuss the preliminaries of a quantum theory in global coordinates, which is invariant under a q-deformed version of the de Sitter supergroup. In this context I outline an algebraic derivation of the CSB scaling relation between Poincare SUSY breaking and the dS radius. I also review recent work on infra-red divergences in dS/CFT, as well as the phenomenology of CSB. I show that a coincidence been two scales in the phenomenological model is explained by insisting on the existence of galaxies.

title: SUSY and the Holographic Screens
abstract: The Cartan-Penrose (CP) equation is interpreted as a connection between a spinor at a point in spacetime, and a pair of holographic screens on which the information at that point may be projected. Local SUSY is thus given a physical interpretation in terms of the ambiguity of the choice of holographic screen implicit in the work of Bousso. The classical CP equation is conformally invariant, but quantization introduces metrical information via the B(ekenstein)-H(awking)-F(ischler)-S(usskind)-B(ousso) connection between area and entropy. A piece of the classical projective invariance survives as the $(-1)^F$ operation of Fermi statistics. I expand on a previously discussed formulation of quantum cosmology, using the connection between SUSY and screens.

title: No Firewalls in Holographic Space-Time or Matrix Theory
abstract: We use the formalisms of Holographic Space-time (HST) and Matrix Theory[11] to investigate the claim of  that old black holes contain a firewall, i.e. an in-falling detector encounters highly excited states at a time much shorter than the light crossing time of the Schwarzschild radius. In both formalisms there is no dramatic change in particle physics inside the horizon until a time of order the Schwarzschild radius. The Matrix Theory formalism has been shown to give rise to an S-matrix, which coincides with effective supergravity for an infinite number of low energy amplitudes. We conclude that the firewall results from an inappropriate use of quantum effective field theory to describe fine details of localized events near a black hole horizon. In both HST and Matrix Theory, the real quantum gravity Hilbert space in a localized region contains many low energy degrees of freedom that are not captured in QU(antum) E(ffective) F(ield) T(heory) and omits many of the high energy DOF in QUEFT.

title: Dark matter candidate with new strong interactions
abstract: We study the possibility that dark matter is a baryon of a new strongly interacting gauge theory, which was introduced in the low energy theory of Cosmological SUSY Breaking (CSB). This particle can fit the observed dark matter density if an appropriate cosmological asymmetry is generated. The same mechanism can also explain the dark/baryonic matter ratio in the universe. The mass of the dark matter particle is in the multiple TeV range, and could be as high as 20 TeV.

title: Some Thoughts on the Quantum Theory of de Sitter Space
abstract: This is a summary of two lectures I gave at the Davis Conference on Cosmic Inflation. I explain why the quantum theory of de Sitter (dS) space should have a finite number of states and explore gross aspects of the hypothetical quantum theory, which can be gleaned from semiclassical considerations. The constraints of a self-consistent measurement theory in such a finite system imply that certain mathematical features of the theory are unmeasurable, and that the theory is consequently mathematically ambiguous. There will be a universality class of mathematical theories all of whose members give the same results for local measurements, within the {\it a priori} constraints on the precision of those measurements, but make different predictions for unmeasurable quantities, such as the behavior of the system on its Poincare recurrence time scale. A toy model of dS quantum mechanics is presented.