Search for Pauli exclusion principle violating atomic transitions and electron decay with a p-type point contact germanium detector

N. Abgrall, I. J. Arnquist, F. T. Avignone, A. S. Barabash, F. E. Bertrand, A. W. Bradley, V. Brudanin, M. Busch, M. Buuck, A. S. Caldwell, Y. D. Chan, C. D. Christofferson, P. H. Chu, C. Cuesta, J. A. Detwiler, C. Dunagan, Yu Efremenko, H. Ejiri, S. R. Elliott, P. S. FinnertyA. Galindo-Uribarri, T. Gilliss, G. K. Giovanetti, J. Goett, M. P. Green, J. Gruszko, I. S. Guinn, V. E. Guiseppe, R. Henning, E. W. Hoppe, S. Howard, M. A. Howe, B. R. Jasinski, K. J. Keeter, M. F. Kidd, S. I. Konovalov, R. T. Kouzes, B. D. LaFerriere, J. Leon, J. MacMullin, R. D. Martin, R. Massarczyk, S. J. Meijer, S. Mertens, J. L. Orrell, C. O’Shaughnessy, A. W.P. Poon, D. C. Radford, J. Rager, K. Rielage, R. G.H. Robertson, E. Romero-Romero, B. Shanks, M. Shirchenko, A. M. Suriano, D. Tedeschi, J. E. Trimble, R. L. Varner, S. Vasilyev, K. Vetter, K. Vorren, B. R. White, J. F. Wilkerson, C. Wiseman, W. Xu, E. Yakushev, C. H. Yu, V. Yumatov, I. Zhitnikov

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16 Scopus citations

Abstract

A search for Pauli-exclusion-principle-violating Kα electron transitions was performed using 89.5 kg-d of data collected with a p-type point contact high-purity germanium detector operated at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility. A lower limit on the transition lifetime of 5.8 × 10 30 s at 90% C.L. was set by looking for a peak at 10.6 keV resulting from the X-ray and Auger electrons present following the transition. A similar analysis was done to look for the decay of atomic K-shell electrons into neutrinos, resulting in a lower limit of 6.8 × 10 30 s at 90% C.L. It is estimated that the Majorana Demonstrator, a 44 kg array of p-type point contact detectors that will search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge, could improve upon these exclusion limits by an order of magnitude after three years of operation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number619
JournalEuropean Physical Journal C
Volume76
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2016
Externally publishedYes

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