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The main objective of the MAYORANA (Multi-Aspect Young ORiented Advanced Neutrino Academy) School&Workshop is to promote a collaborative framework of young and senior researchers from the fields of nuclear, particle and astroparticle neutrino physics to discuss theories and experiments in which interdisciplinary aspects are particularly relevant.
The event will be host in the wonderful town of Modica (Sicily-Italy) at the historical Palazzo Grimaldi. The School will take place in July from 4 to 11 and the Workshop from 12 to 14 2023.
The School is addressed to doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows and young researchers from worldwide limited to 50 participants. The School activities will consist of 40 hours organized in lectures, dedicated sessions through posters and mini-talks presented by the students and face-to-face discussions with the professors. Prizes will be awarded to the best mini-talks and posters. The students are also invited to attend the Workshop gaining the opportunity to know about most advanced studies in the field.
The Workshop will take place just after the School. The aim is to connect researchers from different communities in order to discuss recent results and challenges of modern neutrino physics.
Scientific Topics
The MAYORANA School&Workshop is jointly organized by Fondazione Grimaldi, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare and University of Catania.
More information about the School&Workshop are at the following links:
Nowadays, the search for neutrino-less double beta (0$\nu\beta\beta$) decay continues with undiminished interest since it is a prominent tool for probing the absolute neutrino mass scale. However, this task is hampered by our limited knowledge of the nuclear matrix elements (NMEs) for such an exotic process. In this respect, a seminal experimental campaign has been initiated at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare – Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN-LNS) in Catania under the NUMEN and NURE projects [1,2], aiming to provide data-driven information on the NMEs for various 0$\nu\beta\beta$ decay target candidates, through the study of heavy-ion induced double charge exchange (DCE) reactions. In this sense, the $^{48}$Ti nucleus is of great interest since it is the daughter nucleus of $^{48}$Ca in the 0$\nu\beta\beta$ decay. However, in order to obtain meaningful information on the NMEs of 0$\nu\beta\beta$ decay, the study of DCE reactions in conjunction with other competing nuclear reaction channels like one- and/or two-nucleon transfer is imperative. Understanding the degree of competition between successive nucleon transfer and DCE reactions is crucial for the description of the meson exchange mechanism. Furthermore, elastic scattering measurements are necessary for determining the nucleus-nucleus potential which is the starting point for the theoretical description of all the reaction channels mentioned above. Into this context, a global study for the $^{18}$O+$^{48}$Ti collision was performed by measuring the complete net of the available reaction network. Angular distribution measurements for the reaction ejectiles were performed at the MAGNEX facility [4] of INFN-LNS in Catania. This contribution provides an overview of the analysis of elastic and inelastic scattering [5], one-nucleon [6] and two-nucleon transfer reactions, while preliminary results on the analysis of the DCE reaction will be also presented.
[1] F. Cappuzzello et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 54, 72 (2018).
[2] M. Cavallaro et al., Proceedings of Science, BORMIO2017:015 (2017).
[3] F. Cappuzzello et al., Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 128, 103999 (2023).
[4] F. Cappuzzello et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 52, 167 (2016).
[5] G. A. Brischetto, Il Nuovo Cimento 45C, 96 (2022).
[6] O. Sgouros et al., Phys. Rev. C 104, 034617 (2021).
The nature of the neutrinoless double-beta decay remains one of the most talked topics in nuclear and particle physics. Observing this kind of decay would shed light on the nature of the neutrino, including its mass. Our goal is to calculate the phase space factors and nuclear matrix elements concerning the decay of $^{104}$Ru. The phase space factors are evaluated using exact Dirac electron wave functions with finite nuclear size and electron screening [1] whereas the nuclear matrix elements are calculated using the microscopic interacting boson model (IBM-2) following the procedure introduced in [2]. From these results, we can calculate the estimates for both two neutrino and neutrinoless double-beta decay half-life. This study is done in collaboration with the experimental group (IGISOL) from the University of Jyväskylä. They measured a very precise Q-value for the double-beta decay of the nucleus in the investigation using the JYFLTRAP Penning trap. Before this, there has been no direct Q-value measurement for the double-beta decay transition between the nuclear ground states $^{104}$Ru $\rightarrow$ $^{104}$Pd. This kind of study was made previously for the $^{98}$Mo [3].
References:
[1] J. Kotila and F. Iachello, Phys. Rev. C 85, 034316
[2] J. Barea, J. Kotila, and F. Iachello, Phys. Rev. C 91, 034304
[3] Nesterenko, D.A., Jokiniemi, L., Kotila, J. et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 58, 44 (2022).
PROSPECT is a reactor antineutrino experiment consisting of a 4-ton liquid scintillator antineutrino detector divided into an 11x14 array of optically separated segments. The detector was designed to probe the existence of sterile neutrino oscillations and precisely measure the antineutrino spectrum resulting from 235U fission. Data was taken in 2018 and 2019 with a first-generation detector called PROSPECT-I that was located on the Earth’s surface roughly 7 m from the 85 MW, compact, highly-enriched High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This dataset has already had a substantial impact by placing stringent limits on sterile neutrino oscillations at the eV scale, setting new direct limits on boosted dark matter models, providing a precision 235U spectral measurement, and demonstrating unique neutrino detection capabilities. During the data collection period, information coming from a small number of PMTs had to be excluded causing an overall statistical impact on previous results. To recover this otherwise lost information, two new data analysis tools known as Data Splitting and Single Ended Event Reconstruction have been implemented resulting in a multi-period analysis with improved antineutrino event selection criteria. This presentation will report the impact of this new analysis effort in the measurement of the 235U spectrum, as well as in the search for sterile neutrino oscillations.
This work is supported by the US DOE Office of High Energy Physics, the Heising-Simons Foundation, CFREF and NSERC of Canada, and internal investments at all institutions.
The Recoil Directionality project (ReD) within the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration aims to characterize the response of a liquid argon (LAr) dual-phase Time Projection Chamber (TPC) to neutron-induced nuclear recoils and to measure the charge yield for low-energy recoils. The charge yield is a critical parameter for the experiments searching for dark matter in the form of low-mass WIMPs and measurements in Ar below 10 keV are scarce in the literature. This project will cover the gap down to 2 keV.
The TPC is irradiated by neutrons produced by an intense 252Cf fission source in order to produce Ar recoils in the energy range of interest. The energy of the nuclear recoils produced within the TPC by (n,n') scattering is determined by detecting the outgoing neutrons by a dedicated neutron spectrometer made of 18 plastic scintillators. The kinetic energy of neutrons interacting in the TPC is evaluated event-by-event by measuring the time of flight between a BaF2 detector located close to the 252Cf source, which tags the primary fission event by detecting the accompanying radiation, and the neutron spectrometer. Data with the 252Cf source are being taken during the Winter of 2023 at the INFN Sezione di Catania. The experiment will be complemented by calibrations with low-energy internal sources of 83mKr and 37Ar diffused inside the TPC.
In this contribution, we describe the experimental setup and the preliminary characterization of the detectors.
We explore the possibility of using the recently proposed THEIA detector to measure the $\bar \nu_\mu \rightarrow \bar \nu_e$ oscillation with neutrinos from a muon decay at rest ($\mu$DAR) source to improve the leptonic CP phase measurement. Due to its intrinsic low-energy beam, this $\mu$THEIA configuration ($\mu$DAR neutrinos at THEIA) is only sensitive to the genuine leptonic CP phase $\delta_D$ and not contaminated by the matter effect. With detailed study of neutrino energy reconstruction and backgrounds at the THEIA detector, we find that the combination with the high-energy DUNE can significantly reduce the CP uncertainty, especially around the maximal CP violation cases $\delta_D = \pm 90^\circ$. Both the $\mu$THEIA-25 with 17 kt and $\mu$THEIA-100 with 70 kt fiducial volumes are considered. For DUNE + $\mu$THEIA-100, the CP uncertainty can be better than $8^\circ$.
Precision $\beta$-decay measurements are a highly sensitive probe of beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics that aim to constrain non-standard charge changing weak currents at TeV scales. With the level of accuracy being approach by current experiments, it is important to have comparably accurate theoretial predictions of observable quantities within the Standard Model. Thus, one requires an accurate understanding of the underlying nuclear dynamics as well as of recoil corrections arising to the small momentum dependence of the nuclear matrix elements. We aim to achieve such an understanding by approaching the problem of nuclear $\beta$-decay with quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods, which allow one to solve the many-body Schrödinger equation while retaining the full complexity of the nuclear system. In this talk, I will provide an overview of {\it ab initio} calculations of $\beta$-decay using QMC and the Norfolk local chiral interaction (NV2+3) plus its consistent electroweak currents. In particular, I will discuss validation of the NV2+3 via the calcultion of Gamow-Teller matrix elements and strengths. After presenting this validation, I will detail a recent calculation of the $^6$He beta decay spectrum with the NV2+3 that retains the important recoil corrections. Within the NV2+3 model uncertainty and the parameter space presently allowed by experimental analyses, next-generation experiments would have a sensitivity to signatures from BSM charge-changing weak currents and from sterile neutrinos with masses near 1 MeV.
The NUMEN project [1-2] aims to investigate specific heavy–ion double charge exchange (DCE) reactions in order to provide experimentally driven information about nuclear matrix elements (ΝΜΕs) of interest in the context of neutrinoless double beta decay (0$\nu\beta\beta$). To this extent, the $^{20}$Ne + $^{130}$Te system was experimentally investigated in a multi-channel approach by measuring the complete net of reaction channels, namely DCE [3], single charge exchange (SCE), elastic and inelastic scattering [4], one– and two–nucleon transfer reactions, characterized by the same initial state interaction. The goal of such a study is to fully characterize the properties of the nuclear wavefunctions entering in the 0$\nu\beta\beta$ decay NMEs. The relevant experimental campaign was carried out at INFN–Laboratory Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania using the Superconducting Cyclotron to accelerate the beams and the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer [5] to detect the reaction ejectiles. The experimental challenges and the obtained results for the $^{20}$Ne + $^{130}$Te system will be presented and discussed.
[1] F. Cappuzzello et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 54, 72 (2018).
[2] F. Cappuzzello et al., Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 128, 103999 (2023).
[3] V. Soukeras et al., Results in Physics 28, 104691 (2021).
[4] D. Carbone et al., Universe 7, 58 (2021).
[5] F. Cappuzzello et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 52, 167 (2016).
We study the one-nucleon transfer in heavy-ion-induced reactions. We investigate the transitions between even-even and odd-even nuclei. The even-even nuclei are candidates to decay via double beta emission without neutrinos. This subject is relevant for current and future experiments at LNS as part of the NUMEN project.
M. Giovannini1,2, on behalf of the NUMEN Collaboration
DCCI, University of Genova, Via Dodecaneso 31 - 16146 Genova, Italy, mauro.giovannini@unige.it
2 INFN - Sezione di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33 – 16146, Genova, Italy
The NUMEN experiment, hosted at LNS (Catania, Italy), aims to determine the Nuclear Matrix Elements (NMEs) involved in 0νββ decay via heavy-ion induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions. High intensity beams of about 50 μA and of energies ranging from 15 to 60 MeV/u
are necessary, due to the low DCE cross sections, and the use of very thin targets (several hundreds of nm) is needed to have an energy straggling such as to allow a good resolution in energy (< 500 keV). These intense beams produce a considerable amount of heat inside the target (about two order of magnitude higher than the one released in a target for nuclear experiments), which can be dissipated by depositing the targets on a highly thermally conductive substrate. The choice of a proper substrate between different graphite films is one of the critical issue for the success of the NUMEN experiment. The ideal substrate for the NUMEN experiment should have high thermal conductivity (1400-2300 W/(mK)), a thickness around 2μm and a good thickness uniformity in order to minimize the impact on the energy resolution of the reaction products.
In this work a comparison between different graphite foils, prepared by different processes, is made through a characterization by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Raman and scansion electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS) and Alpha Particle Transmission (APT) have being used to quantify thickness and uniformity.
Symmetries of the IBFFM will be discussed and Spectroscopic Amplitudes
(SA) in the Interacting Boson Fermion Fermion Model (IBFFM) are
necessary for the computation of 0\nu\beta\beta0νββ decays but also for
cross-sections of heavy-ion reactions, in particular, Double Charge
Exchange reactions for the NUMEN collaboration, if one does not want to
use the closure limit. We present for the first time: the formalism and
operators to compute in a general case the spectroscopic amplitudes in the
scheme IBFFM from an even-even to odd-odd nuclei, in a way suited to be
used in reaction code, i.e., extracting the contribution of each orbital.
The one-body transition densities for 116Cd → 116In and 116In →
116Sn [1] are part of the experimental program of the NUMEN experiment,
which aims to find constraints on Neutrinoless double beta decay matrix
elements.
[1]Ruslan Idelfonso Magaña Vsevolodovna, Elena Santopinto, Roelof Bijker , Phys.Rev.C 106 (2022) 4, 044307 • e-Print: 2101.05659 [nucl-th]
JUNO (Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory) is a neutrino experiment under construction in China. It will be the largest liquid scintillator experiment, detecting neutrinos and anti-neutrinos by using 20 kton of organic liquid scintillator contained in an huge Acrylic vessel of 35 m diameter. The experiment will start the data-taking in 2024 with the main goal to determine the Neutrino Mass Ordering (NMO) [1].
Thanks to its very large mass, low backgrounds and unprecedented energy resolution JUNO will be a pioneering experiment in neutrino physics. JUNO will reach the sensitivity to NMO in six year of data-taking, but it will be potentially a powerful detector also for solar neutrinos.
Solar neutrinos are produced by nuclear reactions burning in the core of the Sun. The main mechanism of hydrogen burning in the Sun is the pp chain. Five reactions of this chain produce neutrinos (pp, pep, hep, $^8\mathrm{B}$, $^7\mathrm{Be}$). Instead a small fraction ($1\%$) of solar neutrinos comes from the CNO-cycle. Borexino, an experiment located in Laboratori Nationali del Gran Sasso, performed the best measurement of the pp-chain neutrinos currently available [2] and the first measurement ever of the CNO-cycle neutrinos [3]. However, some questions remain open for solar physics, which would require an improved measurement of the solar neutrino flux, for example the so-called “solar metallicity problem”.
Radioactivity is the main background for a solar neutrino flux measurement. The radioactive backgrounds in JUNO will be due to the natural isotopes belonging to the $^{238}\mathrm{U}$ and $^{232}\mathrm{Th}$ chains and to $^{40}\mathrm{K}$, but also to the anthropogenic isotope Kr, and the cosmogenic ones, such as produced by residual cosmic muons interacting with of the liquid scintillator.
I will present a Monte-Carlo study of the sensitivity of JUNO to $^7\mathrm{Be}$, pep and CNO solar neutrinos as function of different radiopurity scenarios and duration of the data-taking.
[1] “JUNO physics and detector”. In: Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics 123 (2022), p. 103927. issn: 0146-6410. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppnp.2021.103927.
[2] M. Agostini et al. (Borexino collaboration). “Comprehensive measurement of pp-chain solar neutrinos”. In: Nature 562 (2018), pp. 505–510. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0624-y.
M. Agostini et al. (Borexino collaboration). “Experimental evidence of neutrinos produced in the CNO fusion cycle in the Sun”. In: Nature 587 (2020), p. 577. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2934-0.
Using the Glashow resonance candidate event recently identified by IceCube we infer the ultrahigh energy astrophysical neutrino source. The Glashow resonance is a valuable probe to identify the source of astrophysical neutrinos because it distinguishes $\bar{\nu_e}$ from $\nu_e$. With the available experimental information we set a constraint on the $\bar{\nu_e}$ fraction of astrophysical neutrinos. We find that the $\mu$-damped p$\gamma$ source is excluded at about 2$\sigma$ confidence level and that there is a weak preference for the pp source. Next generation experiments will be able to distinguish between ideal pp and p$\gamma$ sources with a high significance assuming a single power-law neutrino spectrum.
The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is the first bolometric experiment searching for 0νββ decay that has been able to reach the one-tonne mass scale. The detector, located at the LNGS in Italy, consists of an array of 988 TeO2 crystals arranged in a compact cylindrical structure of 19 towers. CUORE began its first physics data run in 2017 at a base temperature of about 10 mK and in April 2021 released its 3rd result of the search for 0νββ, corresponding to a tonne-year of TeO2 exposure. This is the largest amount of data ever acquired with a solid state detector and the most sensitive measurement of 0νββ decay in 130Te ever conducted, with a median exclusion sensitivity of 2.8×10^25 yr. We find no evidence of 0νββ decay and set a lower bound of 2.2 ×10^25 yr at a 90% credibility interval on the 130Te half-life for this process. In this talk, we present the current status of CUORE search for 0νββ with the updated statistics of one tonne-yr. We finally give an update of the CUORE background model and the measurement of the 130Te 2νββ decay half-life, study performed using an exposure of 300.7 kg⋅yr.
Heavy ion double charge exchange (HIDCE) nuclear reactions represent an alternative tool to gain information on the Nuclear Matrix Elements (NMEs) of double beta decay processes. This talk focuses on the formalism developed for describing HIDCE nuclear reactions in terms of sequential
meson-exchange, i.e. as a sequence of two Single Charge Exchange transitions (DSCE). The DSCE cross section is calculated within the second order Distorted Wave Born Approximation (DWBA). The nuclear states populated in the intermediate channel are treated within the Closure
Approximation. Reduction schemes for the DSCE transition form factors are also discussed in order to get a separate expression for projectile and target NMEs within the cross section expression. It has been proved that the latter can be related to the NMEs describing $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay. Calculations are compared to the data measured at LNS by the NUMEN Collaboration.