Speaker
Description
The discovery that neutrinos are Majorana fermions would have profound implications for particle physics and cosmology. The Majorana character of neutrinos would make neutrinoless double-beta decay, a matter-creating process without the balancing emission of antimatter, possible. The LEGEND Collaboration pursues a phased, 76Ge-based double-beta decay experimental program with a discovery potential that covers the inverted hierarchy. The first phase, LEGEND-200,will deploy 200 kg of germanium detectors enriched in 76Ge. It will have a discovery potential of 1027 years and a background index of 0.6 cts/(ROI t yr). The second phase, LEGEND-1000, will deploy 1000 kg of enriched germanium and will have a discovery sensitivity beyond 1028 years. Using high-purity materials, sophisticated analysis routines and novel subdetector systems to identify background events, the LEGEND experiment will be virtually background-free in the region of interest. This talk will provide an overview of LEGEND and report on the work currently underway to commission LEGEND-200.
