CUORE: A Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events

TL;DR

CUORE is a proposed large-scale cryogenic detector array designed to search for rare events like neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter interactions, with preliminary experiments demonstrating its potential.

Contribution

It introduces a novel large-scale cryogenic bolometer array optimized for ultralow-background rare event searches, advancing detector design and sensitivity.

Findings

Preliminary experiments with smaller towers validate the design.

Monte Carlo simulations indicate high sensitivity for rare event detection.

Construction of the CUORE array is underway to achieve full-scale operation.

Abstract

CUORE is a proposed tightly packed array of 1000 TeO2 bolometers, each being a cube 5 cm on a side with a mass of 760 g. The array consists of 25 vertical towers, arranged in a square of 5 towers by 5 towers, each containing 10 layers of 4 crystals. The design of the detector is optimized for ultralow-background searches: for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te (33.8% abundance), cold dark matter, solar axions, and rare nuclear decays. A preliminary experiment involving 20 crystals 3x3x6 cm3 of 340 g has been completed, and a single CUORE tower is being constructed as a smaller scale experiment called CUORICINO. The expected performance and sensitivity, based on Monte Carlo simulations and extrapolations of present results, are reported.