This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). It will provide funding for this group to continue their contributions to searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay. The observation of neutrino oscillations has shown that neutrinos have mass. This is the first direct evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model. This discovery has renewed and strengthened the interest in neutrinoless double beta decay experiments which provide the only practical way to determine whether neutrinos are Majorana (i.e., they are identical with their own antiparticles) or Dirac particles. Such experiments also have the potential to determine the absolute scale of the neutrino mass and help resolve the neutrino mass hierarchy question. The answers to these fundamental problems may also prove important for understanding the fundamental forces of Nature and the evolution of the Universe.
For the next three years, the group will participate in the NEMO-3 experiment with data analysis and collaborate on the design of the new SuperNEMO experiment. NEMO-3 is located in the Modane Underground Laboratory in the Frejus Tunnel under the French-Italian Alps, and is currently one of the most sensitive searches for neutrinoless double beta decays. Their simulation package based on GEANT-4 has become the main photon transport software used by the Collaboration. It enables better understanding of the NEMO-3 data and is extensively used to optimize the SuperNEMO design. With about 100 kg of 82Se (or 150Nd), SuperNEMO will be competitive with, and complementary to, the other largest planned experiments in this area worldwide.
The broader impact of the program includes collaboration with the Warsaw University group and by employing UT undergraduates achieving a broader impact of the project by educating and training students in state-of-the-art science.
