Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published March 2016 | Published
Journal Article Open

Search for 2νββ decay of ^(136)Xe to the 0^+^1 excited state of ^(136)Ba with the EXO-200 liquid xenon detector

Abstract

EXO-200 is a single phase liquid xenon detector designed to search for neutrinoless ββ decay of ^(136)Xe to the ground state of ^(136)Ba. We report here on a search for the two-neutrino ββ decay of 136Xe to the first 0+ excited state, 0^+_1, of ^(136)Ba based on a 100 kg yr exposure of ^(136)Xe. Using a specialized analysis employing a machine learning algorithm, we obtain a 90% CL half-life sensitivity of 1.7 × 10^(24) yr. We find no statistically significant evidence for the 2νββ decay to the excited state resulting in a lower limit of T^(2ν)_(1/2)(0^+ → 0^+_1) > 6.9 ×10^(23) yr at 90% CL. This observed limit is consistent with the estimated half-life of 2.5 × 10^(25) yr.

Additional Information

© 2016 American Physical Society. Received 16 November 2015; published 8 March 2016. The collaboration gratefully acknowledges Thilo Michel for valuable discussions, the KARMEN collaboration for supplying the cosmic-ray veto detectors, and the WIPP for their hospitality. EXO-200 is supported by DOE and NSF in the United States, NSERC in Canada, SNF in Switzerland, IBS in Korea, RFBR-14-02-00675 in Russia, DFG Cluster of Excellence "Universe" in Germany, and CAS-IHEP Fund and ISTCP (2015DFG02000) in China. EXO-200 data analysis and simulation uses resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Attached Files

Published - PhysRevC.93.035501.pdf

Files

PhysRevC.93.035501.pdf
Files (568.4 kB)
Name Size Download all
md5:4b8216e32c9a7b89ff11025fa91445e9
568.4 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023