Final Results of GERDA on the Search for Neutrinoless Double-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>β</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math> Decay
M. Agostini, G. R. Araujo, A. M. Bakalyarov, M. Balata, И. Р. Барабанов, L. Baudis, C. Bauer, E. Bellotti, S. Belogurov, A. Bettini, L. Bezrukov, V. Biancacci, D. Borowicz, E. Bossio, V. Bothe, V. Brudanin, R. Brugnera, A. Caldwell, C. Cattadori, A. Chernogorov, T. Comellato, V. D’Andrea, É. V. Demidova, N. Di Marco, E. Doroshkevich, F. Fischer, M. Fomina, A. M. Gangapshev, A. Garfagnini, C. Gooch, P. Grabmayr, V. Gurentsov, K. Gusev, J. Hakenmüller, S. Hemmer, R. Hiller, W. Hofmann, J. Huang, M. Hult, Л. В. Инжечик, J. Janicskó Csáthy, J. Jochum, M. Junker, V. V. Kazalov, Y. Kermaïdic, H. Khushbakht, T. Kihm, I.V. Kirpichnikov, A. Klimenko, R. Kneißl, K.T. Knöpfle, O. Kochetov, В. Н. Корноухов, P. Krause, V. V. Kuzminov, M. Laubenstein, A. Lazzaro, M. Lindner, I. Lippi, A. Lubashevskiy, Б. Лубсандоржиев, G. Lutter, C. Macolino, B. Majorovits, W. Maneschg, L. Manzanillas, M. Miloradovic, R. Mingazheva, M. Misiaszek, P. Moseev, Y. Müller, I. Nemchenok, K. Panas, L. Pandola, K. Pelczar, L. Pertoldi, P. Piseri, A. Pullia, C. Ransom, L. Rauscher, S. Riboldi, N. Rumyantseva, C. Sada, F. Salamida, S. Schönert, J. Schreiner, M. Schütt, A.-K. Schütz, O. Schulz, M. Schwarz, B. Schwingenheuer, O. Selivanenko, E. Shevchik, M. Shirchenko, L. Shtembari, H. Simgen, A. Smolnikov, D. Stukov, A. A. Vasenko, A. Veresnikova
Abstract
The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment searched for the lepton-number-violating neutrinoless double-β (0νββ) decay of ^{76}Ge, whose discovery would have far-reaching implications in cosmology and particle physics. By operating bare germanium diodes, enriched in ^{76}Ge, in an active liquid argon shield, GERDA achieved an unprecedently low background index of 5.2×10^{-4} counts/(keV kg yr) in the signal region and met the design goal to collect an exposure of 100 kg yr in a background-free regime. When combined with the result of Phase I, no signal is observed after 127.2 kg yr of total exposure. A limit on the half-life of 0νββ decay in ^{76}Ge is set at T_{1/2}>1.8×10^{26} yr at 90% C.L., which coincides with the sensitivity assuming no signal.