Cryogenic Double Beta Decay Experiments: CUORE and CUORICINO

TL;DR

This paper reviews cryogenic bolometer experiments, CUORE and CUORICINO, for neutrinoless double beta decay, highlighting their technological advancements, current limits on neutrino mass, and future prospects.

Contribution

It provides an overview of the latest results from CUORICINO and discusses the development and expected sensitivity of the next-generation CUORE experiment.

Findings

CUORICINO sets the most stringent limit on Te-130 half-life at > 2.4x10^{24} years.

CUORE aims to probe neutrino masses in the 10-100 meV range.

Latest results demonstrate the effectiveness of cryogenic bolometers in neutrino research.

Abstract

Cryogenic bolometers, with their excellent energy resolution, flexibility in material, and availability in high purity, are excellent detectors for the search for neutrinoless double beta decay. Kilogram-size single crystals of TeO_2 are utilized in CUORICINO for an array with a total detector mass of 40.7 kg. CUORICINO currently sets the most stringent limit on the halflife of Te-130 of T > 2.4x10^{24} yr (90% C.L.), corresponding to a limit on the effective Majorana neutrino mass in the range of < 0.2-0.9 eV. Based on technology developed for CUORICINO and its predecessors, CUORE is a next-generation experiment designed to probe neutrino mass in the range of 10 - 100 meV. Latest results from CUORICINO and overview of the progress and current status of CUORE are presented.