Background Model Fitting for the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR
ORAL
Abstract
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is a neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment consisting of two modules containing p-type point contact germanium detectors surrounded by a graded shield and located at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility. The experiment has a leading energy resolution of 2.5 keV FWHM as well as one of the lowest backgrounds in the region of interest surrounding the double-beta decay Q-value. Background model fits to data from the DEMONSTRATOR aim to determine the sources of observed backgrounds, explain deviations between the measured background rate and assay-based predictions, and make a precision measurement of the two-neutrino double-beta decay half-life. In this talk, we present recent progress in background modeling aimed at addressing the challenges of reliably fitting a large group of simulated spectra that represent each module's components to a low background dataset. We also discuss work to quantify systematic errors due to model uncertainties, such as those associated with the dead layer profiles of the detectors.
*This material is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, the Particle Astrophysics and Nuclear Physics Programs of the National Science Foundation, and the Sanford Underground Research Facility.
–
Presenters
-
Anna L Reine
- University of North Carolina at Chapel H