NνDEx-100 conceptual design report

• Published in: Nuclear science and techniques Vol. 35; no. 1
• Main Authors: Cao, Xi-Guang, Chang, Yan-Long, Chen, Kai, Ciuffoli, Emilio, Duan, Li-Min, Fang, Dong-Liang, Gao, Chao-Song, Ghorui, Surja K., Hu, Peng-Chong, Hu, Qiang, Huang, Si-Yuan, Huang, Ze-Yu, Lang, Lei, Li, Yu-Lan, Li, Zhi-Jie, Liang, Tian-Yu, Liu, Jun, Lu, Chen-Gui, Mai, Fa-Tai, Mei, Yuan, Qiu, Hao, Sun, Xiang-Ming, Tang, Xiao-Xing, Wang, Hu-Lin, Wang, Qian-Ming, Xiao, Le, Xiao, Mu-Yun, Xin, Jian-Yu, Xu, Nu, Yang, Peng, Yang, Yi-Chen, Yang, Zhen, Yu, Zong-Yang, Zhang, Dong-Liang, Zhang, Jun-Wei, Zhao, Cheng-Xin, Zhu, Dou
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 2024
• Subjects: Beam Physics; Nuclear Energy; Particle Acceleration and Detection; Particle and Nuclear Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; China Jinping Underground Laboratory; SeF; Neutrinoless double beta decay; Time projection chamber
• ISSN: 1001-8042; 2210-3147
• DOI: 10.1007/s41365-023-01360-7

Observing nuclear neutrinoless double beta (0 ν β β ) decay would be a revolutionary result in particle physics. Observing such a decay would prove that the neutrinos are their own antiparticles, help to study the absolute mass of neutrinos, explore the origin of their mass, and may explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry in our universe by lepton number violation. We propose developing a time projection chamber (TPC) using high-pressure 82 SeF 6 gas and Topmetal silicon sensors for readout in the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL) to search for neutrinoless double beta decay of 82 Se, called the N ν DEx experiment. Besides being located at CJPL with the world’s thickest rock shielding, N ν DEx combines the advantages of the high Q β β (2.996 MeV) of 82 Se and the TPC’s ability to distinguish signal and background events using their different topological characteristics. This makes N ν DEx unique, with great potential for low-background and high-sensitivity 0 ν β β   searches. N ν DEx-100, a N ν DEx experiment phase with 100 kg of SeF 6 gas, is being built, with plans to complete installation at CJPL by 2025. This report introduces 0 ν β β physics, the N ν DEx concept and its advantages, and the schematic design of N ν DEx-100, its subsystems, and background and sensitivity estimation.