Deep sub-threshold $K^\ast (892)^{\circ}$ production in collisions of Ar + KCl at 1.76 A GeV

NEXT-100 Technical Design Report (TDR). Executive summary

[EN] In this Technical Design Report (TDR) we describe the NEXT-100 detector that will search for neutrinoless double beta decay (ßß0v) in 136XE at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc (LSC), in Spain. The document formalizes the design presented in our Conceptual Design Report (CDR): an electroluminescence time projection chamber, with separate readout planes for calorimetry and tracking, located, respectively, behind cathode and anode. The detector is designed to hold a maximum of about 150 kg of xenon at 15 bar, or 100 kg at 10 bar. This option builds in the capability to increase the total isotope mass by 50% while keeping the operating pressure at a manageable level. The readout pla…

pp and ππ intensity interferometry in collisions of Ar+KCl at 1.76A GeV

Results on pp, π+π+, and π-π- intensity interferometry are reported for collisions of Ar+KCl at 1.76$A$~GeV beam energy, studied with the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at SIS18/GSI. The experimental correlation functions as a function of the relative momentum are compared to model calculations allowing the determination of the space-time extent of the corresponding emission sources. The π π source radii are found significantly larger than the pp emission radius. The present radii do well complement the source-size excitation functions of the collision system of size $A+A \simeq 40+40$. The pp source radius at fixed beam energy is found to increase linearly with the cube r…

Radiopurity control in the NEXT-100 double beta decay experiment

An extensive material screening and selection process is underway in the construction of the "Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC" (NEXT), intended to investigate neutrinoless double beta decay using a high-pressure xenon gas TPC filled with 100 kg of Xe enriched in 136Xe. Determination of the radiopurity levels of the materials is based on gamma-ray spectroscopy using ultra-low background germanium detectors at the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (Spain) and also on Glow Discharge Mass Spectrometry. Materials to be used in the shielding, pressure vessel, electroluminescence and high voltage components and energy and tracking readout planes have been already taken into consideration. T…

Deep sub-threshold K*(892)0 production in collisions of Ar + KCl at 1.76A GeV

Results on the deep sub-threshold production of the short-lived hadronic resonance K*(892)0 are reported for collisions of Ar + KCl at 1.76A GeV beam energy, studied with the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at SIS18/GSI. The K*(892)0 production probability per central collision of \( P_{K^{*0}}=(4.4\pm 1.1 \pm 0.5)\times 10^{-4}\) and the K*(892)0/K0 ratio of \( P_{K^{*0}}/P_{K^0}=(1.9\pm 0.5\pm 0.3)\times 10^{-2}\) are determined at the lowest energy so far (i.e. deep below the threshold for the corresponding production in nucleon-nucleon collisions, \( \sqrt{s_{NN}}-\sqrt{s_{thr}}=-340\) MeV). The K*0/K0 ratio is compared with results of other experiments and with the pre…

The Axial Charge Renormalization in a Relativistic Description of Finite Nuclei

Starting from a realistic One-Boson-Exchange model of the nucleon nucleon interaction the relativistic mean field for nucleons is determined within the Dirac Brueckner Hartree Fock approach for finite nuclei. The matrix elements of the axial charge operator evaluated for the solutions of the Dirac equation with this selfenergy are investigated. These matrix elements are enhanced with respect to the equivalent non relativistic ones obtained from the solutions of the Schr\"odinger equation with the non relativistic equivalent potential. The present results confirm at a qualitative level the results for the axial charge renormalization obtained with perturbative approaches. However, the result…

Initial results of NEXT-DEMO, a large-scale prototype of the NEXT-100 experiment

NEXT-DEMO is a large-scale prototype of the NEXT-100 detector, an electroluminescent time projection chamber that will search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of Xe-136 using 100-150 kg of enriched xenon gas. NEXT-DEMO was built to prove the expected performance of NEXT-100, namely, energy resolution better than 1% FWHM at 2.5MeV and event topological reconstruction. In this paper we describe the prototype and its initial results. A resolution of 1.75% FWHM at 511 keV (which extrapolates to 0.8% FWHM at 2.5 MeV) was obtained at 10 bar pressure using a gamma-ray calibration source. Also, a basic study of the event topology along the longitudinal coordinate is presented, proving that it…

Characterization of a medium size Xe/TMA TPC instrumented with microbulk Micromegas, using low-energy gamma-rays

NEXT-MM is a general-purpose high pressure (10 bar, $\sim25$ l active volume) Xenon-based TPC, read out in charge mode with an 8 cm $\times$8 cm-segmented 700 cm$^2$ plane (1152 ch) of the latest microbulk-Micromegas technology. It has been recently commissioned at University of Zaragoza as part of the R&D of the NEXT $0\nu\beta\beta$ experiment, although the experiment's first stage is currently being built based on a SiPM/PMT-readout concept relying on electroluminescence. Around 2 million events were collected during the last months, stemming from the low energy $\gamma$-rays emitted by a $^{241}$Am source when interacting with the Xenon gas ($\epsilon$ = 26, 30, 59.5 keV). The localized…

Present Status and Future Perspectives of the NEXT Experiment

Gómez Cadenas, Juan José et al.

Near-intrinsic energy resolution for 30-662 keV gamma rays in a high pressure xenon electroluminescent TPC

We present the design, data and results from the NEXT prototype for Double Beta and Dark Matter (NEXT-DBDM) detector, a high-pressure gaseous natural xenon electroluminescent time projection chamber (TPC) that was built at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It is a prototype of the planned NEXT-100 Xe-136 neutrino-less double beta decay (0 nu beta beta) experiment with the main objectives of demonstrating near-intrinsic energy resolution at energies up to 662 keV and of optimizing the NEXT-100 detector design and operating parameters. Energy resolutions of similar to 1% FWHM for 662 keV gamma rays were obtained at 10 and 15 atm and similar to 5% FWHM for 30 keV fluorescence xenon X-…

Coherent γ-production in (p,p′) reactions in nuclei in the Δ resonance region

Abstract We study the process of coherent photon production in nuclei induced by the (p,p′) reaction around the Δ excitation region. The cross sections are about 200 times smaller than the corresponding ones for coherent pion production but within measurable range with present machines. The cross section selects the transverse part of the NN→NΔ transition, while coherent pion production selects the longitudinal one. The reactions are complementary and show different aspects of Δh propagation through the nucleus which are discussed here.

Ionization and scintillation response of high-pressure xenon gas to alpha particles

High-pressure xenon gas is an attractive detection medium for a variety of applications in fundamental and applied physics. In this paper we study the ionization and scintillation detection properties of xenon gas at 10 bar pressure. For this purpose, we use a source of alpha particles in the NEXT-DEMO time projection chamber, the large scale prototype of the NEXT-100 neutrinoless double beta decay experiment, in three different drift electric field configurations. We measure the ionization electron drift velocity and longitudinal diffusion, and compare our results to expectations based on available electron scattering cross sections on pure xenon. In addition, two types of measurements add…

Evaluation of legendre functions of argument greater than one

Abstract In this paper we present an algorithm to evaluate Legendre functions of the first and second kinds (P_v ,Q_v ) for integral and half-integral order and argument greater than one. The code is based on the calculation of the continued fraction for the Q's, the Wronskian relating P's and Q's and the application of forward recurrence relations for the P's and backward recurrence for the Q's. We also show an application of these algorithms to the evaluation of the electrostatic field due to a char... Title of program: DLEGENI, DLEGENS Catalogue Id: ADGO_v1_0 Nature of problem We include two codes in order to evaluate: 1) Legendre functions of half-integral order (subroutine DLEGENS) 2) …

A code to evaluate prolate and oblate spheroidal harmonics

Abstract We present a code to evaluate prolate (P^m _n (x), Q^m _n(x); n ≥ m, x > 1) and oblate (P^m _n (ix), Q^m _n(ix); n ≥ m, x > 0) spheroidal harmonics, that is, spherical harmonics (n and m integers) for real arguments larger than one and for purely imaginary arguments. We start from the known values (in closed form) of P^m _(m+1)and P^m ... Title of program: DPROH, DOBLH Catalogue Id: ADHD_v1_0 Nature of problem We include two codes in order to evaluate: Prolate spheroidal harmonics (subroutine DPROH) Oblate spheroidal harmonics (subroutine DOBLH) The two codes evaluate spheroidal harmonics of the first and second kinds for a given order m, from the lowest (positive) degree (n = m) t…