1 count / tonne-year? Battling Backgrounds in the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR

by Dr Jason Detwiler (LBNL)

Saturday Oct 29, 2011, 2:45 AM → 3:45 AM Pacific/Honolulu

417A (Watanabe Hall)

Achieving ultra-low background levels is critical for current- and future-generation neutrinoless double-beta decay and WIMP dark matter searches. The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR aims to mount an array of HPGe detectors with unprecedented low background levels to address these physics goals. I will describe the critical background sources for this experiment, including natural radioactivity in the detector components and the surrounding environment, surface alpha and beta activity, and cosmogenic background sources. I will detail the strategies that the MAJORANA Collaboration is employing to minimize and characterize these background sources. I will also discuss potential avenues for further reductions in future experiments.