Speaker
Description
$^{96}$Zr is a very promising 0νββ nuclide due to its high Q$_{ββ}$ = 3.35 MeV which is greater than the decay energies of most contributing background sources, and the large phase-space factor which is proportional to Q$_{ββ}^5$. We obtained unique zirconium samples enriched for the first time using the gas centrifuge method. Samples are enriched in $^{96}$Zr isotope to 88.18% (natural abundance 2.8%) with the isotope mass of 179.2 g. The aim of this study is to investigate level of radionuclide impurities, double beta decay of $^{96}$Zr to $0^+_1$ (1148 keV) excited state of the daughter nucleus $^{96}$Mo and single beta decay of $^{96}$Zr. The samples are being measured with the underground SNEG spectrometer at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory, which consists of a 0.9 kg HPGe detector surrounded by multilayer passive shielding. The accumulated dataset (1610 hours of background measurements and 12614 hours with the samples) provides sufficient sensitivity to observe evidence of the rarest single beta decay of $^{96}$Zr. The best constraints on double beta decay to the excited state $0^+_1$ (1148 keV) of $^{96}$Mo have been established.
| I read the instructions above | Yes |
|---|