Friday 24 October, 11:00h, at Nikhef in H331
Speaker: Laura Baudis (University of Zurich)
Title: "GERDA and the nature of neutrinos"
Abstract:
Neutrinos are amongst the most mysterious particles observed in nature: they interact only weakly with all other fundamental particles in the Standard Model of particle physics, and their masses are many orders of magnitude smaller than the one of other leptons and quarks. Despite decades of intense experimental efforts, several of their fundamental properties remain unknown. While solar, reactor, atmospheric and accelerator neutrino experiments have conclusively shown that neutrinos are not massless, the laboratory determination of their mass remains elusive. In addition, it is not known whether neutrinos and anti-neutrinos are identical particles, so-called Majorana particles, or whether they are different. The study of an extremely rare nuclear decay process, the double beta decay, can address these open questions. In particular, the observation of the neutrinoless decay mode would prove that neutrinos are their own antiparticles and that lepton number is violated in nature. The determination of its rate would provide information on the absolute neutrino mass scale. After an introduction to the topic, I will describe the experimental methods employed in the search of neutrinoless double beta decay, with focus on the GERDA project. I will present its recent results, the plans for the next phase, as well as the status of other projects, addressing the question on which sensitivities are required, and which techniques are most suitable for a discovery.
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