Speaker
Description
The LEGEND experiment has been designed to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in Ge-76. Its discovery would have profound implications for neutrino physics and cosmology providing unambiguous evidence for the Majorana nature of neutrinos, lepton number non-conservation and the absolute neutrino mass scale. The LEGEND-1000 detector represents the ton-scale phase of the LEGEND program, following
the current intermediate stage (LEGEND-200) carried out at LNGS in Italy. The LEGEND-1000 will be based on germanium detectors enriched in Ge-76 up to about 90 %. The detectors will be operated in an active shield based on underground argon This approach proved to guarantee the lowest background levels and the best energy resolution at the decay Q value as established by the GERDA and MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiments. The anticipated quasi background-free operation will allow for search of neutrinoless double-beta decay in Ge-76 at a half-life beyond 10^28 yr and a discovery sensitivity spanning the inverted-ordering neutrino mass scale. The LEGEND Collaboration is successfully seeking funding from US and European agencies. The construction of the detector in Hall C of the underground laboratory of LNGS in Italy should start in 2026 and will take about 8 years. Start of data taking is foreseen for 2029.
