February 2017

Conference Paper

Analysis techniques for background rejection at the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR

By:
Cuesta, C; Abgrall, N.; Arnquist, I.; Avignone, III, F.; Baldenegro-Barrera, C.; Barabash, A.S.; Bertrand, F.; Bradley, A.; Brudanin, V.; Busch, M.; Buuck, M.; Byram, D.; Caldwell, A.; Chan, Y-D; Christofferson, C.; Detwiler, J.; Efremenko, Yu.; Ejiri, H.; Elliott, S.; Galindo-Uribarri, A.; Gilliss, T.; Giovanetti, G.; Goett, J; Green, M.; Gruszko, J; Guinn, I; Guiseppe, V; Henning, R.; Hoppe, E.W.; Howard, S.; Howe, M.; Jasinski, B; Keeter, K.J.; Kidd, M.; Konovalov, S.I.; Kouzes, R.; LaFerriere, B.; Leon, J.; MacMullin, J.; Martin, R.; Meijer, S.; Mertens, S.; Orrell, J.; O'Shaughnessy, C.; Poon, A.W.P.; Radford, D.; Rager, J.; Rielage, K.; Robertson, R.G.H.; Romero-Romero, E.; Shanks, B.; Shirchenko, M.; Snyder, N; Suriano, A.; Tedeschi, D; Trimble, J.; Varner, R.; Vasilyev, S.; Vetter, K.; Vorren, K.; White, B.; Wilkerson, J.; Wiseman, C.; Xu, W.; Yakushev, E.; Yu, C.-H.; Yumatov, V.; Zhitnikov, I
Journal Name:
AIP Conference Proceedings
Page Number:
140006-140006
Volume:
1672
Issue Number:
1
Publication Date:
February 9, 2017
Conference Name:
5th International Workshop in Low Radioactivity Techniques
Conference Location:
Seattle, Washington, United States of America
View DOI Listing:
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4928022

Abstract

The MAJORANA Collaboration is constructing the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, an ultra-low background, 40-kg modular HPGe detector array to search for neutrinoless double beta decay in Ge-76. In view of the next generation of tonne-scale Ge-based 0 nu beta beta-decay searches that will probe the neutrino mass scale in the inverted-hierarchy region, a major goal of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is to demonstrate a path forward to achieving a background rate at or below 1 count/tonne/year in the 4 keV region of interest around the Q-value at 2039 keV. The background rejection techniques to be applied to the data include cuts based on data reduction, pulse shape analysis, event coincidences, and time correlations. The Point Contact design of the DEMONSTRATOR's germanium detectors allows for significant reduction of gamma background.