Final Result on the Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay of $^{82}$Se with CUPID-0

TL;DR

This paper reports the most stringent limits on neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{82}$Se using CUPID-0, a cryogenic calorimeter array, setting new half-life bounds and constraining the effective Majorana neutrino mass.

Contribution

First medium-scale demonstration of scintillating bolometers for neutrinoless double beta decay, providing improved half-life limits for $^{82}$Se decay modes.

Findings

Set a half-life limit of > 4.6×10^{24} years for neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{82}$Se.

Established the most stringent lower limits on decay to excited states of $^{82}$Kr.

Constrained the effective Majorana neutrino mass to below 545 meV.

Abstract

CUPID-0, an array of Zn$^{82}$Se cryogenic calorimeters, was the first medium-scale demonstrator of the scintillating bolometers technology. The first project phase (March 2017 - December 2018) allowed the most stringent limit on the neutrinoless double beta decay half-life of the isotope of interest, $^{82}$Se, to be set. After a six months long detector upgrade, CUPID-0 began its second and last phase (June 2019 - February 2020). In this letter, we describe the search for neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{82}$Se with a total exposure (phase I + II) of 8.82 kg$\times$yr of isotope. We set a limit on the half-life of $^{82}$Se to the ground state of $^{82}$Kr of T$^{0\nu}_{1/2}$($^{82}$Se)$>$ 4.6$\times \mathrm{10}^{24}$ yr (90\% credible interval), corresponding to an effective Majorana neutrino mass m$_{\beta\beta} <$ (263 -- 545) meV. We also set the most stringent lower limits on the neutrinoless decays of $^{82}$Se to the 0$_1^+$, 2$_1^+$ and 2$_2^+$ excited states of $^{82}$Kr, finding 1.8$\times$10$^{23}$ yr, 3.0$\times$10$^{23}$ yr, 3.2$\times$10$^{23}$ yr (90$\%$ credible interval) respectively.