The CUORE and CUORE-0 Experiments at Gran Sasso

TL;DR

CUORE is a large cryogenic detector aiming to observe neutrinoless double beta decay in tellurium-130, with CUORE-0 serving as a testbed, and the experiment is progressing towards high sensitivity in rare event detection.

Contribution

This paper reports on the construction, status, and initial results of CUORE and CUORE-0, demonstrating the detector performance and setting the stage for future rare event searches.

Findings

CUORE-0 has been operational since spring 2013.

CUORE aims for a background of 0.01 counts/(keV·kg·y).

Projected sensitivity of CUORE is around 10^26 years for half-life.

Abstract

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is an experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) in $^{130}$Te and other rare processes. CUORE is a cryogenic detector composed of 988 TeO$_2$ bolometers for a total mass of about 741 kg. The detector is being constructed at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy, where it will start taking data in 2015. If the target background of 0.01 counts/(keV$\cdot$kg$\cdot$y) will be reached, in five years of data taking CUORE will have an half life sensitivity around $1\times 10^{26}$ y at 90\% C.L. As a first step towards CUORE a smaller experiment CUORE-0, constructed to test and demonstrate the performances expected for CUORE, has been assembled and is running. The detector is a single tower of 52 CUORE-like bolometers that started taking data in spring 2013. The status and perspectives of CUORE will be discussed, and the first CUORE-0 data will be presented.