A status update on the {\sc Majorana Demonstrator}
ORAL
Abstract
The {\sc Majorana} Collaboration is seeking neutrinoless double-beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$), a lepton number violating process that would indicate that the neutrino is a Majorana fermion, in $^{76}$Ge. An array of P-type point contact (PPC) high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors isotopically enriched in $^{76}$Ge will be used to perform this search. For inverted hierarchy neutrinos, a tonne-scale array with backgrounds of $<1$ ct/ROI-t-y in the 4 keV region of interest (ROI) around the 2039 keV Q-value for double-beta decay in $^{76}$Ge will be sensitive to $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of such an experiment, the {\sc Majorana Demonstrator} is being constructed at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF). The {\sc Demonstrator} will consist of an array of 40 kg of PPC HPGe detectors, 30 kg of which will be enriched to $87\%$ in $^{76}$Ge, housed in two separate modular cryostats inside of a compact shield. The background goal for the {\sc Demonstrator} is $<3$ cts/ROI-t-y, which is expected to scale down to $<1$ ct/ROI-t-y for a tonne-scale experiment. This presentation will contain a status update on the {\sc Majorana Demonstrator}.
*This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, the Particle Astrophysics Program of the National Science Foundation, and the Sanford Underground Research Facility.
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