Date and time: April 9th at 11:30 AM
Speaker: Chloe Ransom
Abstract: The observation of the hypothetical process of neutrinoless double beta decay (0nbb) would demonstrate both lepton-number violation and the Majorana nature of the neutrino. The GERDA experiment searches for 0nbb of Ge-76 at LNGS, operating 36 kg of enriched germanium diodes that act simultaneously as both source and detector. Neutrinoless double-beta decay would be detected in calorimeters such as GERDA as a sharp peak at the Q-value (2039 keV for 76Ge). Determining the energy of events via dedicated calibrations of the detectors is therefore of key concern, in addition to precisely determining the energy resolution. Here I will discuss the calibration procedure of GERDA, the analysis of the calibration data, the determination of systematic uncertainties, and how these quantities affect the neutrinolessdouble-beta analysis and limit.
