Active background suppression with the liquid argon scintillation veto of GERDA Phase II

Abstract

The observation of neutrinoless double beta decay would allow to shed light onto the particle nature of neutrinos. Gerda is aiming to perform a background-free search for this process using high purity germanium detectors enriched in 76Ge operated in liquid argon. This goal relies on the application of active background suppression techniques. A low background light instrumentation has been installed for Phase II to detect events with coincident energy deposition in the nearby liquid argon. The intended background index of ∼10-3 cts/(keV•ky•yr) has been confirmed.