Speaker
Ms
Francis Froborg
(University of Zurich)
Description
The GERDA experiment uses the neutrinoless double beta decay to probe three
fundamental questions in neutrino physics - Are they Dirac or Majorana particles?
What is their absolute mass? What is the mass hierarchy of the three generations? It
uses high-purity germanium detectors enriched in Ge-76 which are submerged nakedly in
liquid argon. Due to an expected half life of the neutrinoless double beta decay of
T_1/2 ~ 10e25 y, background reduction is essential. Therefore the experiment is
located 1500 m (3400 mwe) underground at LNGS, Italy and is further shielded with
water, which also acts as active veto, as well as liquid argon.
The construction of the experiment finished in summer 2010 and the commissioning is
in its finale stage. The start of a first physics run is expected in summer 2011.
This talk will give an overview of the experiment, its current status and first results.
Primary author
Ms
Francis Froborg
(University of Zurich)
