Discovery of the two-neutrino double-beta decay of xenon-136 with EXO-200
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Recent neutrino oscillation measurements provide definitive evidence for non-zero neutrino masses. Oscillation measurements, however, only measure mass differences, not the absolute mass scale. Neutrinoless double-beta decay, a hypothetical nuclear transition, can probe the absolute neutrino mass scale. This process, if observed, would also imply that neutrinos are their own anti-particles and that lepton number is not a conserved quantity. The 200 kg Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO-200) detector is currently taking data to search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of Xe-136, with an expected half-life in excess of 10^25 years. Located at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico, the detector is filled with 200 kg of isotopically enriched liquid xenon. The analysis presented here describes the recent observation with EXO-200 of the two-neutrino double beta-decay of Xe-136. This is the rarest process ever directly observed with a half-life of 2.11+-0.21 x 10^21 years and provides important input to the measurement of the neutrinoless decay.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2011 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Neilson, Russell Geoffrey |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Physics |
| Primary advisor | Gratta, Giorgio |
| Thesis advisor | Gratta, Giorgio |
| Thesis advisor | Cabrera, Blas |
| Thesis advisor | Peskin, Michael Edward, 1951- |
| Advisor | Cabrera, Blas |
| Advisor | Peskin, Michael Edward, 1951- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Russell Neilson. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Physics. |
| Thesis | Ph. D. Stanford University 2011 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2011 by Russell Geoffrey Neilson
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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