Speaker
Description
The nEXO experiment is a proposed next-generation search for the neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) of Xe-136. The detector will be a 5-tonne, monolithic liquid xenon TPC with a target enriched to 90% in the isotope of interest. In this talk, we will discuss a new evaluation of the experiment’s sensitivity to $0\nu\beta\beta$, given recent updates to the detector design and improved modeling of the signal readout. Specific improvements include detailed, data-driven modeling of signal development in the charge readout tiles (and subsequently improved modeling of the energy and position reconstruction), the development of new machine-learning analyses to improve signal/background separation, and an updated detector geometry. We will discuss how these changes lead to a projected 90% CL exclusion sensitivity on the $0\nu\beta\beta$ halflife of $1.35\times10^{28}$ yrs in nEXO, approximately two orders of magnitude beyond existing experimental limits.
