Status and Performance of the AMoRE-I Experiment on Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

Abstract

Abstract AMoRE is an international project to search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of $$^{100}\hbox {Mo}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mn>100</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:mtext>Mo</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> using a detection technology consisting of magnetic microcalorimeters (MMCs) and molybdenum-based scintillating crystals. Data collection has begun for the current AMORE-I phase of the project, an upgrade from the previous pilot phase. AMoRE-I employs thirteen $${}^\mathrm {48depl.}\hbox {Ca}^{100}\hbox {MoO}_4$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>48</mml:mn> <mml:mi>depl</mml:mi> <mml:mo>.</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:msup> <mml:mtext>Ca</mml:mtext> <mml:mn>100</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:msub> <mml:mtext>MoO</mml:mtext> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> crystals and five $$\hbox {Li}_2^{100}\hbox {MoO}_4$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mtext>Li</mml:mtext> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mn>100</mml:mn> </mml:msubsup> <mml:msub> <mml:mtext>MoO</mml:mtext> <mml:mn>4</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> crystals for a total crystal mass of 6.2 kg. Each detector module contains a scintillating crystal with two MMC channels for heat and light detection. We report the present status of the experiment and the performance of the detector modules.