The Search For Majorana Neutrinos

Since the observation of double beta decay 33 years ago the search for neutrinoless double beta decay has been underway. This is due to the fact that a robust observation of neutrinoless double beta decay is currently the most sensitive method to determine the Majorana nature of the neutrino. Such searches have been at the forefront for developing new methods and techniques that are required for observing such rare processes. The detection of the single barium ion produced as a result of the double beta decay of 136Xe would enable a new class of ultra-low background neutrinoless double beta decay experiments. However, despite 19 years of R&D, a credible method to collect and identify individual barium ions in bulk xenon has remained elusive. This dissertation is comprised of four-parts, which focus on new experimental methods and techniques in order to reduce or eliminate backgrounds completely, and the impact such advancements would have on experimental sensitivity to neutrinoless double beta decay. Part I motivates the search for neutrinoless double beta decay. Starting from the origins of the neutrino mass and how it is possibly connected to the matter anti-matter asymmetry observed today. Part II concerns the NEXT experimental program and focuses on the operating principles of gaseous xenon radiation detectors and their advantages. Part III explores the fundamentals of gas physics with a focus on enhancing current detectors performance. Part IV illustrates the advancements made in detecting the daughter ion, which include the development of a novel microscopy technique.

"This volume offers a valuable insight into various aspects of the ongoing work directed at measuring neutrino mass. It took twenty years to refute the assertions of Bethe and Peierls that neutrinos were not observable, but it has since been realised that much can be learnt from these particles. The moral is, as Fiorini argues here, that the study of neutrinos was and remains demanding but rewarding. Subjects addressed in this volume include: clarifying the meaning of the Klapdor-Kleingrothaus results, probing the Majorana nature of neutrinos, observing lepton number violating effects for the first time, studying the end point of the spectrum in the search for neutrino masses and speculating whether it is possible to measure neutrino masses in cosmology. Lectures are enriched with rich historical overviews and valuable introductory material. Attention is also given to theoretical topics such as the evolution of the concept of mass in particle physics, a status report on neutrino oscillations and current discussion on neutrino masses. The reader is further reminded that neutrino masses may also have some bearing on the very origin of the matter among us, and have many deep links with other important lines of current physics research." --Book Jacket.

A search is performed for heavy Majorana neutrinos (N) using an event signature defined by two same-sign charged leptons of the same flavour and two jets. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.98 1/fb of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No excess of events is observed beyond the expected standard model background and therefore upper limits are set on the square of the mixing parameter as a function of heavy Majorana-neutrino mass. These are the first direct upper limits on the heavy Majorana-neutrino mixing for mass larger than 90 GeV.

For many years neutrino was considered a massless particle. The theory of a two-componentneutrino,whichplayedacrucialroleinthecreationofthetheoryof theweakinteraction,isbasedontheassumptionthattheneutrinomassisequalto zero. We now know that neutrinos have nonzero, small masses. In numerous exp- iments with solar, atmospheric, reactor and accelerator neutrinos a new p- nomenon, neutrino oscillations, was observed. Neutrino oscillations (periodic transitionsbetweendifferent?avorneutrinos? ,? ,? )arepossibleonlyifneutrino e ? ? mass-squareddifferencesaredifferentfromzeroandsmalland?avorneutrinosare “mixed”. The discovery of neutrino oscillations opened a new era in neutrino physics: an era of investigation of neutrino masses, mixing, magnetic moments and other neutrino properties. After the establishment of the Standard Model of the el- troweak interaction at the end of the seventies, the discovery of neutrino masses was the most important discovery in particle physics. Small neutrino masses cannot be explained by the standard Higgs mechanism of mass generation. For their explanation a new mechanism is needed. Thus, small neutrino masses is the ?rst signature in particle physics of a new beyond the Standard Model physics. It took many years of heroic efforts by many physicists to discover n- trino oscillations. After the ?rst period of investigation of neutrino oscillations, manychallengingproblemsremainedunsolved.Oneofthemostimportantisthe problem of the nature of neutrinos with de?nite masses. Are they Dirac n- trinos possessing a conserved lepton number which distinguish neutrinos and antineutrinos or Majorana neutrinos with identical neutrinos and antineutrinos? Many experiments of the next generation and new neutrino facilities are now under preparation and investigation. There is no doubt that exciting results are ahead.

Small neutrino masses are the first signs of new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Since the first edition of this textbook appeared in 2010, the Nobel Prize has been awarded "for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass". The measurement of the small neutrino mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ in 2012, launched the precision stage of the investigation of neutrino oscillations. This measurement now allows such fundamental problems as the three-neutrino mass spectrum - is it normal or inverted? – and the $CP$ violation in the lepton sector to be tackled. In order to understand the origin of small neutrino masses, it remains crucial to reveal the nature of neutrinos with definite masses: are they Dirac neutrinos possessing a conserved lepton number, which distinguishes neutrinos and antineutrinos, or are they Majorana neutrinos with identical neutrinos and antineutrinos? Experiments searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay are presently under way to answer this fundamental question. The second edition of this book comprehensively discusses all these important recent developments. Based on numerous lectures given by the author, a pioneer of modern neutrino physics (recipient of the Bruno Pontecorvo Prize 2002), at different institutions and schools, it offers a gentle yet detailed introduction to the physics of massive and mixed neutrinos that prepares graduate students and young researchers entering the field for the exciting years ahead in neutrino physics.

This book explains the physics and phenomenology of massive neutrinos. The authors argue that neutrino mass is not unlikely and consider briefly the search for evidence of this mass in decay processes before they examine the physics and phenomenology of neutrino oscillation. The physics of Majorana neutrinos (neutrinos which are their own antiparticles) is then discussed. This volume requires of the reader only a knowledge of quantum mechanics and of very elementary quantum field theory.

The discovery of neutrino oscillations provides evidence that the Standard Model neutrinos have mass. Many models generate the mass for the light neutrinos by postulating the existence of heavy neutrinos. This thesis presents the search for a heavy Majorana neutrino decaying into a W boson and a muon that was performed using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The search is performed using final states with two same-sign muons, two or more high momentum jets and low missing transverse energy. The events are required to pass the ATLAS muon trigger and the improvements made in the muon trigger algorithms are also presented. The data used in this thesis were collected using pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV in 2011 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb-1. In the search no excess of events above the background prediction is observed and 95% confidence level upper limits are set on the cross section times branching ratio for the production of heavy Majorana neutrinos. Limits are set for heavy Majorana neutrinos with masses ranging from 100 to 300 GeV, in which the observed limits range between 28 to 3.4 fb. These are most stringent direct limits to date for heavy neutrino masses larger than 100 GeV.

This book explains the physics and phenomenology of massive neutrinos. The authors argue that neutrino mass is not unlikely and consider briefly the search for evidence of this mass in decay processes before they examine the physics and phenomenology of neutrino oscillation. The physics of Majorana neutrinos (neutrinos which are their own antiparticles) is then discussed. This volume requires of the reader only a knowledge of quantum mechanics and of very elementary quantum field theory.

Neutrinos play an intriguing role in modern physics linking central questions of particle physics, cosmology and astrophysics. The contributions in this book reflect the present status of neutrino physics with emphasis on non-accelerator or beyond-accelerator experiments. Since a nonvanishing neutrino mass would yield an important boundary condition for GUT, SUSY or Superstring models and since neutrinos are the best candidates for dark matter in the universe, the many efforts to look for a neutrino mass, ranging from neutrino oscillation experiments using reactors, accelerators or the sun as neutrino sources, to tritium decay experiments and the search for neutrinoless double beta decay, are described in some detail. One of the sections is devoted to neutrinos from collapsing stars, including the supernova SN 1987 A. Possibilities for detecting cosmological neutrinos are discussed and an outlook to future experiments is given.