119243574
Composite macro-bolometers for the rejection of surface radioactive background in rare-event experiments
Experiments searching for rare events, such as neutrinoless double beta decay and interactions of dark matter candidates, require extremely low levels of background. When these experiments are performed using macro-bolometers, radioactive contamination near the surfaces is of particular concern. For a bolometric neutrinoless double beta decay experiment, it can cause counts in the spectral region where the signal is expected, while for a dark matter experiment which exploits ionization signals for particle identification, it originates an incomplete charge collection simulating a nuclear recoil. In order to control the effects of surface contamination, we developed a novel technique that uses composite macro-bolometers to identify energy depositions that occur close to the surfaces of materials immediately surrounding the detector. The composite macro-bolometer proposed and studied here consists of a main energy absorber that is thermally coupled to and entirely surrounded by thin absorbers that act as active shields. Surface energy depositions can be rejected by the analysis of simultaneous signals in the main absorber and the shields. In this paper, we describe a full thermal model and experimental results for three prototype detectors. The detectors consist of Ge, Si, or TeO2 thin absorbers as active shields, all with TeO2 crystals as main absorbers. In all cases, the surface event rejection capability is clearly demonstrated. In addition, simulations and preliminary results show that it is possible to detect energy depositions that occurred on the shields without separate readout channels for them. The energy depositions in the shields are distinguished from those in the main absorber through pulse shape discrimination. This simplification makes this technique a viable method for the rejection of surface energy depositions in next-generation bolometric double beta decay searches, such as possible extensions or upgrades of the CUORE experiment.
62170783
Terra Incognita 2: Exploring and Modeling Absolute Masses
After drawing the context of discussion of this parallel session, we offer a summary of the various contributions, and comment on future perspectives. We include only the few references that are useful for the discussion, and refer to the individual contributions for a complete bibliography on the related subjects.
118915062
Dark matter search with innovative techniques
55610143
From Cuoricino to CUORE: Investigating the inverted hierarchy region of neutrino mass
Cuoricino is a Double Beta Decay experiment operating deep underground, in the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy; at a depth of about 3500 m.w.e. The search for the 0νββ of 130Te is carried out with the bolometric technique and an upper limit of 3×1024 y (@ 90%C.L.) is set for this process. Cuoricino represents not only the most sensitive DBD Experiment presently operating but also a prototype for a next generation experiment, CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events). The expected performance and sensitivity, based on Monte Carlo simulations and extrapolations of the present Cuoricino results, indicate that CUORE will be able to test the 0.02-0.05 eV region for the effective neutrino mass, having a high discovery potential in the inverted hierarchy region of the neutrino mass pattern.
203744172
How to improve the sensitivity of future neutrino mass experiments with thermal calorimeters
In this paper we discuss the perspectives for a new generation of neutrino mass experiments using thermal detectors to reach interesting sensitivities before and after the KATRIN experiment. By scaling the performance of the present Milano neutrino mass experiment with Monte Carlo simulations, we show how a new experiment can validate the present limit of few eV set by spectrometers before the KATRIN experiment starts. We also show how such a result can be used to design a very large thermal detector experiment to reach sensitivities beyond the KATRIN expected one. r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 14.60.Pq; 23.40.Bw; 29.90.þr; 02.70.Uu
121148985
Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay
This paper introduces the neutrinoless double-beta decay (the rarest nuclear weak process) and 
describes the status of the research for this transition, both from the point of view of theoretical 
nuclear physics and in terms of the present and future experimental scenarios. Implications of this 
phenomenon on crucial aspects of particle physics are briefly discussed. The calculations of the nuclear 
matrix elements in case of mass mechanisms are reviewed, and a range for these quantities is proposed 
for the most appealing candidates. After introducing general experimental concepts—such as the 
choice of the best candidates, the different proposed technological approaches, and the sensitivity—we make the point on the experimental situation. Searches running or in preparation are described, providing an organic presentation which picks up similarities and differences. A critical comparison of 
the adopted technologies and of their physics reach (in terms of sensitivity to the effective Majorana 
neutrino mass) is performed. As a conclusion, we try to envisage what we expect round the corner 
and at a longer time scale.
29885643
Anomalous Behavior in an Effective Model of Graphene with Coulomb Interactions
We analyze by exact Renormalization Group (RG) methods the infrared properties of an effective model of graphene, in which two-dimensional (2D) massless Dirac fermions propagating with a velocity smaller than the speed of light interact with a 3D quantum electromagnetic field. The fermionic correlation functions are written as series in the running coupling constants, with finite coefficients that admit explicit bounds at all orders. The implementation of Ward Identities in the RG scheme implies that the effective charges tend to a line of fixed points. At small momenta, the quasi-particle weight tends to zero and the effective Fermi velocity tends to a finite value. These limits are approached with a power law behavior characterized by non-universal critical exponents.
119295233
The ground state construction of the two-dimensional Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice
In these lectures I consider the half-filled two-dimensional (2D) Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice and I review the rigorous construction of its ground state properties by making use of constructive fermionic Renormalization Group methods.
55458894
Lattice quantum electrodynamics for graphene
Abstract The effects of gauge interactions in graphene have been analyzed up until now in terms of effective models of Dirac fermions. However, in several cases lattice effects play an important role and need to be taken consistently into account. In this paper, we introduce and analyze a lattice gauge theory model for graphene, which describes tight binding electrons hopping on the honeycomb lattice and interacting with a three-dimensional quantum U ( 1 ) gauge field. We perform an exact renormalization group analysis, which leads to a renormalized expansion that is finite at all orders. The flow of the effective parameters is controlled thanks to Ward identities and a careful analysis of the discrete lattice symmetry properties of the model. We show that the Fermi velocity increases up to the speed of light and Lorentz invariance spontaneously emerges in the infrared. The interaction produces critical exponents in the response functions; this removes the degeneracy present in the non interacting case and allows us to identify the dominant excitations. Finally, we add mass terms to the Hamiltonian and derive by a variational argument the correspondent gap equations, which have an anomalous non-BCS form, due to the non trivial effects of the interaction.