Feasibility study of the observation of the neutrino accompanied double beta-decay of Ge-76 to the 0+(1) excited state of Se-76 using segmented germanium detectors

Abstract

Neutrino accompanied double beta-decay of Ge-76 can populate the ground state and the excited states of Se-76. While the decay to the ground state has been observed with a half-life of 1.74 +0.18 -0.16 10^21 years, decays to the excited states have not yet been observed. Nuclear matrix elements depend on details of the nuclear transitions. A measurement of the half-life of the transition considered here could help to reduce the uncertainties of the calculations of the nuclear matrix element for the neutrinoless double beta decay of Ge-76. This parameter relates the half-life of the process to the effective Majorana neutrino mass. The results of a feasibility study to detect the neutrino accompanied double beta-decay of Ge-76 to the excited states of Se-76 are presented in this paper. Segmented germanium detectors were assumed in this study. Such detectors, enriched in Ge-76 to a level of about 86%, will be deployed in the GERDA experiment located at the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory, Italy. It is shown that the decay of Ge-76 to the 1122 keV 0+ level of Se-76 can be observed in GERDA provided that the half-life of the process is in the range favoured by the present calculations which is 7.5 10^21 y to 3.1 10^23 y.