Simulation of a radial TPC for the detection of neutrinoless double beta decay

TL;DR

This paper discusses the development of a radial time projection chamber using high-pressure xenon for detecting neutrinoless double beta decay, aiming for high sensitivity and background suppression.

Contribution

It introduces a novel detector design and background rejection techniques for neutrinoless double beta decay searches with a large xenon TPC.

Findings

Projected half-life sensitivity exceeds 10^27 years

Potential to explore a significant part of the inverted hierarchy region

Effective background discrimination methods developed

Abstract

To search for $\beta\beta0\nu$ decay with unprecedented sensitivity, the R2D2 collaboration is developing a radial time projection chamber with a fiducial mass of half a tonne of $^{136}$Xe at high pressure. The various approaches implemented to eliminate the radioactive background are presented in terms of detector design, topological recognition of interactions, and event energy reconstruction. The developed tools enable the disentangling of the sought-after signal from the background. The projected sensitivity after ten years of data taking yields a half-life limit exceeding $10^{27}$ years, along with a constraint on the effective neutrino mass $m_{\beta\beta}$ that could cover a large fraction of the inverted mass hierarchy region, depending on the final experimental background.