1. Discrimination of a and b/c interactions in a TeO2 bolometer
- Author
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Beeman, Jeff W, Bellini, Fabio, Cardani, Laura, Casali, Nicola, Dafinei, Ioan, Di Domizio, Sergio, Ferroni, Fernando, Orio, Filippo, Pessina, Gianluigi, Pirro, Stefano, Tomei, Claudia, and Vignati, Marco
- Subjects
Neutrino mass ,Cerenkov detector ,Bolometers ,Double beta decay - Abstract
TeO2 crystals have proven to be superb bolometers for the search of neutrinoless double beta decay in many respects. However, if used alone, they do not exhibit any feature that allows to discriminate an alpha energy deposit from a beta/gamma one. This fact limits their ability to reject the background due to natural radioactivity and eventually affects the sensitivity of the search. In this paper we show the results of a TeO2 crystal where, in coincidence with its bolometric heat signal, also the luminescence light escaping the crystal is recorded. The results show that we are able to measure the light produced by beta/gamma particles, which can be explained as due to Cerenkov emission. No light is detected from alpha particles, allowing the rejection of this background source.
- Published
- 2012