Physics Commons^™

Search For Β+/Ec Double Beta Decay Of 120Te, E. Andreotti, C. Arnaboldi, F.T. Avignone Iii, M. Balata, I. Bandac, M. Barucci, J.W. Beeman, F. Bellini, C. Brofferio, A. Bryant, C. Bucci, L. Canonica, S. Capelli, L. Carbone, M. Carrettoni, M. Clemenza, O. Cremonesi, R. J. Creswick, S. Di Domizio, M.J. Dolinski, L. Ejzak, R. Faccini, H. A. Farach, E. Ferri, E. Fiorini, L. Foggetta, A. Giachero, L. Gironi, A. Giuliani, P. Gorla, E. Guardincerri, T.D. Gutierrez, E. E. Haller, K. Kazkaz, S. Kraft, L. Kogler, C. Maiano, R.H. Maruyama, C. Martinez, M. Martinez, S. Newman, S. Nisi, C. Nones, E.B. Norman, A. Nucciotti, F. Orio, M. Pallavicini, V. Palmieri, L. Pattavina, M. Pavan, M. Pedretti, G. Pessina, S. Pirro, E. Previtali, L. Risegari, C. Rosenfeld, C. Rusconi, C. Salvioni, S. Sangiorgio, D. Schaeffer, N. D. Scielzo, M. Sisti, A. R. Smith, C. Tomei, G. Ventura, M. Vignati

Physics

We present a search for β⁺/EC double beta decay of ¹²⁰Te performed with the CUORICINO experiment, an array of TeO₂ cryogenic bolometers. After collecting 0.0573 kg · y of ¹²⁰Te, we see no evidence of a signal and therefore set the following limits on the half-life: T^{0v _1/2} > 1.9 · 10²¹ y at 90% C.L. for the 0v mode and T^2v_1/2 > 7.6 · 1019 y at 90% C.L. for the 2v mode. These results improve the existing limits by almost three orders of magnitude (four in the case of 0v mode).