Observation of two-neutrino double electron capture in 124Xe with XENON1T
Journal
Date Issued
2019
Author(s)
Aprile, E.
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Aalbers, J.
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Agostini, F.
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Alfonsi, M.
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Althueser, L.
•
Amaro, F. D.
•
Anthony, M.
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Antochi, V. C.
•
Arneodo, F.
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Baudis, L.
•
Bauermeister, B.
•
Benabderrahmane, M. L.
•
Berger, T.
•
Breur, P. A.
•
Brown, A.
•
Brown, E.
•
Bruenner, S.
•
•
Budnik, R.
•
Capelli, C.
•
Cardoso, J. M. R.
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Cichon, D.
•
Coderre, D.
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Colijn, A. P.
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Conrad, J.
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Cussonneau, J. P.
•
Decowski, M. P.
•
de Perio, P.
•
di Gangi, P.
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di Giovanni, A.
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Diglio, S.
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Elykov, A.
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Eurin, G.
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Fei, J.
•
Ferella, A. D.
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Fieguth, A.
•
•
Gallo Rosso, A.
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Galloway, M.
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Gao, F.
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Garbini, M.
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Grandi, L.
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Greene, Z.
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Hasterok, C.
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Hogenbirk, E.
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Howlett, J.
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Iacovacci, M.
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Itay, R.
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Joerg, F.
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Kaminsky, B.
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Kazama, S.
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Kish, A.
•
Koltman, G.
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Kopec, A.
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Landsman, H.
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Lang, R. F.
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Levinson, L.; Lin, Q.; Lindemann, S.; Lindner, M.; Lombardi, F.; Lopes, J. A. M.;
•
Lin, Q.
•
Lindemann, S.
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Lindner, M.
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Lombardi, F.
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Lopes, J. A. M.
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López Fune, E.
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Macolino, C.
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Mahlstedt, J.
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Manfredini, A.
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Marignetti, F.
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Marrodán Undagoitia, T.
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Masbou, J.
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Masson, D.
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Mastroianni, S.
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Messina, M.
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Micheneau, K.
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Miller, K.
•
•
Morå, K.
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Murra, M.
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Naganoma, J.
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Ni, K.
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Oberlack, U.
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Odgers, K.
•
Pelssers, B.
•
Peres, R.
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Piastra, F.
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Pienaar, J.
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Pizzella, V.
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Plante, G.
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Podviianiuk, R.
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Priel, N.
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Qiu, H.
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Ramírez García, D.
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Reichard, S.
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Riedel, B.
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Rizzo, A.
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Rocchetti, A.
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Rupp, N.
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Dos Santos, J. M. F.
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Sartorelli, G.
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Šarčević, N.
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Scheibelhut, M.
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Schindler, S.
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Schreiner, J.
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Schulte, D.
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Schumann, M.
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Scotto Lavina, L.
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Selvi, M.
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Shagin, P.
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Shockley, E.
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Silva, M.
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Simgen, H.
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Therreau, C.
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Thers, D.
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Toschi, F.
•
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Tunnell, C.
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Upole, N.
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Vargas, M.
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Wack, O.
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Wang, H.
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Wang, Z.
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Wei, Y.
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Weinheimer, C.
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Wenz, D.
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Wittweg, C.
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Wulf, J.
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Ye, J.
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Zhang, Y.
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Zhu, T.
•
Zopounidis, J. P.
Abstract
Two-neutrino double electron capture (2νECEC) is a second-order weak-interaction process with a predicted half-life that surpasses the age of the Universe by many orders of magnitude1. Until now, indications of 2νECEC decays have only been seen for two isotopes2-5, 78Kr and 130Ba, and instruments with very low background levels are needed to detect them directly with high statistical significance6,7. The 2νECEC half-life is an important observable for nuclear structure models8-14 and its measurement represents a meaningful step in the search for neutrinoless double electron capture—the detection of which would establish the Majorana nature of the neutrino and would give access to the absolute neutrino mass15-17. Here we report the direct observation of 2νECEC in 124Xe with the XENON1T dark-matter detector. The significance of the signal is 4.4 standard deviations and the corresponding half-life of 1.8 × 1022 years (statistical uncertainty, 0.5 × 1022 years; systematic uncertainty, 0.1 × 1022 years) is the longest measured directly so far. This study demonstrates that the low background and large target mass of xenon-based dark-matter detectors make them well suited for measuring rare processes and highlights the broad physics reach of larger next-generation experiments18-20.
Volume
568
Issue
7753
Start page
532
Issn Identifier
0028-0836
Ads BibCode
2019Natur.568..532X
Rights
open.access
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