Scientists from KBSU and INR RAS have created a prototype detector for searching for neutrinoless double beta decay

Scientists from the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov and the Institute for Nuclear Research (INR) of the Russian Academy of Sciences have created a prototype detector for searching for neutrinoless double beta decay.

As the scientific director of the project, scientific secretary of INR RAS and senior researcher of the joint laboratory «Astrophysics and Physics of Cosmic Rays» Anna Veresnikova emphasized, the team of scientists from the Institute for Nuclear Research and KBSU, as well as young employees, have been actively engaged in research for three years.

In particular, within the framework of the project, a new liquid organic scintillator based on rare earth elements with an optimal concentration of neodymium was developed, designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay of the isotope 150Nd.

Using the Monte Carlo method, a mathematical model was developed that allows optimizing the detector design to achieve the best energy resolution. In the Geant4 modeling environment, the expected energy resolution for the detector was calculated during the study, and the energy release spectra in the scintillator from the radionuclides 238U, 235U and 232Th were obtained. Additionally, measurements of the emission spectra from radioactive impurities of various materials used to create the detector were carried out. The result of the work was the prototype itself, assembled by the team.

Employees of the joint laboratory «Astrophysics and Physics of Cosmic Rays» of the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after Kh.M. Berbekov and the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, engaged in the development, visited a unique installation of the INR RAS — the Baksan Underground Scintillation Telescope (BUST) with a volume of 3000 m³, located at a depth of 300 m under the surface of Mount Andyrchi.

The most important thing for me, as a leader, was to see the students’ glowing eyes. They were present in the field for the first time and saw «live» science. In a «clean room», wearing special clothes, they created the future with their own hands,

— Anna Veresnikova noted.

The next stage of the project will be the collection and processing of statistical data in the deep-level low-background laboratory of the BNO INR RAS.

The project «New Methods for Studying Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay» is being implemented within the framework of the state assignment of KBSU and is part of the Federal Program being developed.

It demonstrates successful cooperation between academic institutes and universities in the field of fundamental research, contributing to the development of domestic science and the training of young specialists in the field of nuclear physics and astrophysics.