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LArGe: Background suppression using liquid argon (LAr) scintillation for 0$νββ$ decay search with enriched germanium (Ge) detectors

M. Di Marco·P. Peiffer·S. Schönert
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Abstract

Measurements with a bare p-type high purity germanium diode (HPGe) submerged in a 19 kg liquid argon (LAr) scintillation detector at MPIK Heidelberg are reported. The liquid argon--germanium system (LArGe) is operated as a 4$π$ anti-Compton spectrometer to suppress backgrounds in the HPGe. This R&D is carried out in the framework of the GERDA experiment which searches for 0$νββ$ decays with HPGe detectors enriched in $^{76}$Ge. The goal of this work is to develop a novel method to discriminate backgrounds in 0$νββ$ search which would ultimately allow to investigate the effective neutrino mass free of background events down to the inverse mass hierarchy scale. Other applications in low-background counting are expected.

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M. Di Marco, P. Peiffer, S. Schönert. 2006-12-29. LArGe: Background suppression using liquid argon (LAr) scintillation for 0$νββ$ decay search with enriched germanium (Ge) detectors. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2007.07.019

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