@article{9a5e88a1a9b74e6a93eade49101b94aa,
title = "Sensitivity of the NEXT experiment to Xe-124 double electron capture",
abstract = "Double electron capture by proton-rich nuclei is a second-order nuclearprocess analogous to double beta decay. Despite their similarities, the decaysignature is quite different, potentially providing a new channel to measurethe hypothesized neutrinoless mode of these decays. The Standard-Model-allowedtwo-neutrino double electron capture ($2\nu ECEC$) has been predicted for anumber of isotopes, but only observed in $^{78}$Kr, $^{130}$Ba and, recently,$^{124}$Xe. The sensitivity to this decay establishes a benchmark for theultimate experimental goal, namely the potential to discover also thelepton-number-violating neutrinoless version of this process, $0\nu ECEC$. Herewe report on the current sensitivity of the NEXT-White detector to $^{124}$Xe$2\nu ECEC$ and on the extrapolation to NEXT-100. Using simulated data for the$2\nu ECEC$ signal and real data from NEXT-White operated with$^{124}$Xe-depleted gas as background, we define an optimal event selectionthat maximizes the NEXT-White sensitivity. We estimate that, for NEXT-100operated with xenon gas isotopically enriched with 1 kg of $^{124}$Xe and for a5-year run, a sensitivity to the $2\nu ECEC$ half-life of $6 \times 10^{22}$ y(at 90% confidence level) or better can be reached.",
keywords = "Dark Matter and Double Beta Decay (experiments)",
author = "G Mart{\'i}nez-Lema and M Mart{\'i}nez-Vara and M Sorel and C Adams and V Alvarez and L Arazi and Arnquist, {I. J} and Azevedo, {C. D. R} and K Bailey and F Ballester and Benlloch-Rodr{\'i}guez, {J. M} and Borges, {F. I. G. M} and N Byrnes and S C{\'a}rcel and Carri{\'o}n, {J. V} and S Cebri{\'a}n and E Church and Conde, {C. A. N} and T Contreras and G D{\'i}az and J D{\'i}az and M Diesburg and J Escada and R Esteve and R Felkai and Fernandes, {A. F. M} and Fernandes, {L. M. P} and P Ferrario and Ferreira, {A. L} and Freitas, {E. D. C} and J Generowicz and S Ghosh and A Goldschmidt and G{\'o}mez-Cadenas, {J. J} and D Gonz{\'a}lez-D{\'i}az and R Guenette and Guti{\'e}rrez, {R. M} and J Haefner and K Hafidi and J Hauptman and Henriques, {C. A. O} and Morata, {J. A. Hernando} and P Herrero and V Herrero and Y Ifergan and S Johnston and Jones, {B. J. P} and M Kekic and L Labarga and A Laing and P Lebrun and N L{\'o}pez-March and M Losada and Mano, {R. D. P} and J Mart{\'i}n-Albo and A Mart{\'i}nez and McDonald, {A. D} and F Monrabal and Monteiro, {C. M. B} and Mora, {F. J} and Vidal, {J. Mu{\~n}oz} and P Novella and Nygren, {D. R} and B Palmeiro and A Para and J P{\'e}rez and M Querol and Redwine, {A. B} and J Renner and J Repond and S Riordan and L Ripoll and Garc{\'i}a, {Y. Rodr{\'i}guez} and J Rodr{\'i}guez and L Rogers and B Romeo and C Romo-Luque and Santos, {F. P} and Santos, {J. M. F. dos} and A Sim{\'o}n and C Sofka and T Stiegler and Toledo, {J. F} and J Torrent and A Us{\'o}n and Veloso, {J. F. C. A} and R Webb and R Weiss-Babai and White, {J. T} and K Woodruff and N Yahlali",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",
year = "2021",
month = feb,
day = "24",
doi = "10.1007/JHEP02(2021)203",
language = "الإنجليزيّة",
volume = "2021",
journal = "The journal of high energy physics",
issn = "1029-8479",
publisher = "Springer Verlag",
number = "2",
}