The NUMEN Project: An Update of the Facility Toward the Future Experimental Campaigns


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Cappuzzello F., Acosta L., Agodi C., BOZTOSUN İ., Brischetto G. A., Calabrese S., ...More

FRONTIERS IN ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCES, vol.8, 2021 (ESCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 8
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.3389/fspas.2021.668587
  • Journal Name: FRONTIERS IN ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCES
  • Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus
  • Keywords: double beta decay, nuclear matrix elements, double charge exchange, heavy ion multidetector, MAGNEX spectrometer, DOUBLE-CHARGE-EXCHANGE, GIANT PAIRING VIBRATION, FIELD MEASUREMENT, BETA, SPECTROMETER, SYSTEM, DECAY
  • Akdeniz University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The goal of NUMEN project is to access experimentally driven information on Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) involved in the neutrinoless double beta decay (0 nu beta beta) by accurate measurements of the cross sections of heavy-ion induced double charge-exchange reactions. In particular, the (O-18, Ne-18) and (Ne-20, O-20) reactions are adopted as tools for beta(+)beta(+) and beta(-)beta(-) decays, respectively. The experiments are performed at INFN-Laboratory Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania using the Superconducting Cyclotron to accelerate the beams and the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer to detect the reaction products. The measured cross sections are very low, limiting the present exploration to few selected isotopes of interest in the context of typically low-yield experimental runs. In order to make feasible a systematic study of all the candidate nuclei, a major upgrade of the LNS facility is foreseen to increase the experimental yield by more than two orders of magnitude. To this purpose, frontier technologies are being developed for both the accelerator and the detection systems. An update description of the NUMEN project is presented here, focusing on recent achievements from the R&D activity.