NEXT Collaboration(Novella, P. et al), Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., Diaz, J., Martin-Albo, J., Martinez, A., et al. (2022). Measurement of the Xe-136 two-neutrino double-beta-decay half-life via direct background subtraction in NEXT. Phys. Rev. C, 105(5), 055501–8pp.
Abstract: We report a measurement of the half-life of the Xe-136 two-neutrino double-beta decay performed with a novel direct-background-subtraction technique. The analysis relies on the data collected with the NEXT-White detector operated with Xe-136-enriched and Xe-136-depleted xenon, as well as on the topology of double-electron tracks. With a fiducial mass of only 3.5 kg of Xe, a half-life of 2.34(-0.46)(+0.80) (stat)(-0.17)(+0.30) (sys) x 10(21) yr is derived from the background-subtracted energy spectrum. The presented technique demonstrates the feasibility of unique background-model-independent neutrinoless double-beta-decay searches.
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TAPS Collaboration, Piasecki, K., Matulewicz, T., Yahlali, N., Delagrange, H., Diaz, J., et al. (2010). Emission patterns of neutral pions in 40A MeV Ta plus Au reactions. Phys. Rev. C, 81(5), 054912–7pp.
Abstract: Differential cross sections of neutral pions emitted in Ta-181+Au-197 collisions at a beam energy of 39.5A Me V have been measured with the two-arm photon spectrometer (TAPS). The kinetic energy and transverse momentum spectra of neutral pions cannot be properly described in the framework of the thermal model, nor when the reabsorption of pions is accounted for in a phenomenological model. However, high energy and high momentum tails of the pion spectra can be well fitted through thermal distributions with unexpectedly soft temperature parameters below 10 MeV.
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SuperNEMO Collaboration(Arnold, R. et al), Diaz, J., Monrabal, F., Serra, L., & Yahlali, N. (2010). Probing new physics models of neutrinoless double beta decay with SuperNEMO. Eur. Phys. J. C, 70(4), 927–943.
Abstract: The possibility to probe new physics scenarios of light Majorana neutrino exchange and right-handed currents at the planned next generation neutrinoless double beta decay experiment SuperNEMO is discussed. Its ability to study different isotopes and track the outgoing electrons provides the means to discriminate different underlying mechanisms for the neutrinoless double beta decay by measuring the decay half-life and the electron angular and energy distributions.
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Azevedo, C. D. R., Baeza, A., Chauveau, E., Corbacho, J. A., Diaz, J., Domange, J., et al. (2023). Design, setup and routine operation of a water treatment system for the monitoring of low activities of tritium in water. Nucl. Eng. Technol., 55(7), 2349–2355.
Abstract: In the TRITIUM project, an on-site monitoring system is being developed to measure tritium (3H) levels in water near nuclear power plants. The quite low-energy betas emitted by 3H have a very short average path in water (5 mm as shown by simulations for 18 keV electrons). This path would be further reduced by impurities present in the water, resulting in a significant reduction of the detection efficiency. Therefore, one of the essential requirements of the project is the elimination of these impurities through a filtration process and the removal of salts in solution. This paper describes a water treatment system developed for the project that meets the following requirements: the water produced should be of nearpure water quality according to ISO 3696 grade 3 standard (conductivity < 10 mS/cm); the system should operate autonomously and be remotely monitored.
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NEXT Collaboration, Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., Felkai, R., Kekic, M., Lopez-March, N., et al. (2020). Mitigation of backgrounds from cosmogenic Xe-137 in xenon gas experiments using He-3 neutron capture. J. Phys. G, 47(7), 075001–17pp.
Abstract: Xe-136 is used as the target medium for many experiments searching for 0 nu beta beta. Despite underground operation, cosmic muons that reach the laboratory can produce spallation neutrons causing activation of detector materials. A potential background that is difficult to veto using muon tagging comes in the form of Xe-137 created by the capture of neutrons on Xe-136. This isotope decays via beta decay with a half-life of 3.8 min and a Q(beta) of similar to 4.16 MeV. This work proposes and explores the concept of adding a small percentage of He-3 to xenon as a means to capture thermal neutrons and reduce the number of activations in the detector volume. When using this technique we find the contamination from Xe-137 activation can be reduced to negligible levels in tonne and multi-tonne scale high pressure gas xenon neutrinoless double beta decay experiments running at any depth in an underground laboratory.
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