The CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) project is increasing its sensitivity to the rare process of neutrinoless double beta decay. This elusive phenomenon could remake our conception of basic physics. For its part, CUORE runs its lab almost a mile underground. With a very large dataset of 2 tonne·year, it hopes to search for signs of lepton number violation. This violation would challenge the established principles of the Standard Model of Particle Physics and open avenues for new physics.
Reina Maruyama is a professor of physics and astronomy in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Her wealth of experience and knowledge is a tremendous asset to the CUORE team. The laboratory has an unusual siting and design with extensive low-radiation shielding. This shielding surrounds lead ingots salvaged from a 2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck, providing an almost magical environment for sensitive measurements.
Neutrinoless double beta decay is thought to happen when two neutrons in a nucleus turn into two protons. This process would emit two electrons but importantly, no antineutrinos— rendering it extremely unlikely. According to the best available estimates, that kind of decay only happens once every 50 septillion years or a trillion trillion years. This scarcity renders finding it an astronomically daunting obstacle.
In order to maximize the impact of their outreach, CUORE has recently improved their outreach tools with new noise cancelling headphones. These new headphones are a key component to cutting out even more non-essential vibrations and sounds that can disrupt sensitive measurements. The headphones help filter out other annoying sounds though, like other distracting researchers, ocean waves pounding the Italian coast, and even seismic shockwaves from earthquakes. This feature greatly improves the transparency of data collection.
CUORE’s continuing research is vital for a future understanding of lepton number violation. If detected, this phenomenon would provide unambiguous evidence supporting theories beyond the Standard Model and could prompt a reevaluation of existing particle physics frameworks.
The future of CUORE is already well on its way, with its successor, CUPID (CUORE Upgrade with Particle IDentification). This next-generation experiment picks up where CUORE’s pioneering effort leaves off. It aims to deepen our insights into this remarkable process of neutrinoless double beta decay.