We report on the operation of a 13 g PbWO_4 crystal, grown from archaeological Pb and operated as a cryogenic calorimeter in an underground environment. Read out with a Ge thermistor, the detector achieves a low energy threshold and, for the first time, enables the derivation of a dark matter exclusion limit using PbWO_4 as target material, for both spin-dependent interactions on neutrons and spin-independent interactions. Although limited in mass and not representative of the final RES-NOVA detector design, this prototype demonstrates effective control of mechanical vibrations and low-energy noise in a cryogenic system, which is a key requirement for rare-event searches. The experiment therefore provides a proof of principle for the RES-NOVA detection concept, validating the use of archaeological Pb-based PbWO_4 crystals, low-background operation, and robust data-analysis procedures. These results establish a solid technological and methodological foundation for future RES-NOVA detectors employing larger target masses and advanced thermal readout technologies.

Abstract Dark matter direct detection experiments can observe solar neutrinos via coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, making it possible to test new physics in the neutrino sector. In this article, we study the sensitivity of RES-NOVA, a novel cryogenic calorimetric experiment employing PbWO4 crystals grown from archaeological lead, to neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI). We perform a sensitivity study for a benchmark setup with a nominal energy threshold of 1 keV and an exposure of 1 ton·yr, both for a conservative (only heat readout) and ideal (heat and scintillation) background rejection scenario. We find that, in its nominal configuration, while not being sensitive to Standard Model solar ν interactions, RES-NOVA can reach sensitivities to NSI at the level of current global fits. With moderate or significant improvements of the threshold down to 0.5 keV and 0.2 keV, RES-NOVA will be able to achieve sensitivities beyond NSI global fit results, testing new areas of the parameter space in the electron and tau sectors, ε ee , ε ττ , and ε eτ . A similar improvement in sensitivities is expected when instead increasing the exposure to 10 ton·yr.

In this work, we present a fast and highly efficient method for the measurement of ^210 Pb in metallic archaeological lead using the commercial low-background liquid scintillation counter Wallac Quantulus 1220 installed at the University of Milano–Bicocca (Italy). By combining an optimized chemical preparation with pulse-shape analysis (PSA), the technique achieves sensitivities at the level of a few 10^2 mBq/kg within one week of measurement, using sample masses below 1 g. The method enables the simultaneous identification of the β decays of ^210 Pb and ^210 Bi and the α decay of ^210 Po, allowing a direct verification of secular equilibrium within the decay chain. With extended acquisition times, detection limits below 100 mBq/kg are reached after approximately 40 days. This approach provides a rapid, accessible, and reliable tool for the radiopurity screening of lead, and is well suited for quality control and R D activities in next-generation low-background and rare-event physics experiments. Moreover, the method has the potential to be extended to other materials relevant for low-background applications.

RES-NOVA is a cryogenic experiment based on PbWO4 scintillating bolometers produced from archaeological lead, originally designed to detect coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) from galactic core-collapse supernovae. We show that the same high-density, high-Z absorbers and sub-keV energy resolution make RES-NOVA an appealing probe of solar axions. We compute the expected signal from the Primakoff, ABC (atomic recombination and de-excitation, Bremsstrahlung, Compton), longitudinal-plasmon (LP), and 57Fe nuclear-line components of the solar axion flux, folded through the inverse-Primakoff and axioelectric detection channels in PbWO4, which probe the axion couplings to photons (g_a-gamma), electrons (g_ae), and nucleons (g_aN), respectively. We derive projected sensitivities for a 1 ton*y exposure of the RES-NOVA demonstrator in the (g_ae,g_a-gamma), (g_ae,g_aN), and (g_a-gamma,g_aN) planes. The projected reach in g_ae approaches that of XENONnT to within a factor of 2, despite a background roughly four orders of magnitude higher, thanks to the large target mass, the high-Z enhancement of the axioelectric and inverse-Primakoff cross sections, and the sub-keV energy resolution. Because the inverse-Primakoff constraint on g_a-gamma relies on absorption rather than coherent conversion, it is independent of the axion mass, unlike bounds from magnetic helioscopes. We complement these projections with the first solar-axion exclusion limit obtained on real data with a 13 g PbWO4 prototype grown from archaeological lead, using a background-model-independent optimum-interval analysis. These results establish RES-NOVA as a promising multi-coupling probe of solar axions, with simultaneous sensitivity to g_ae, g_a-gamma and g_aN that is complementary to existing helioscope and direct-detection searches.

Probing inelastic dark matter at large mass splittings requires heavy target nuclei, an extended recoil-energy range, and the high-velocity tail of the dark-matter distribution. We exploit these features with the RES-NOVA prototype detector, featuring a PbWO4 cryogenic calorimeter, produced from archaeological Pb and operated at the deep-underground laboratory of Gran Sasso of INFN (Italy), analyzing a 32.4 g day exposure over 2.5 keV - 1 MeV under both the Standard Halo Model (SHM) and a Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)-motivated velocity distribution. We extend direct-detection constraints beyond the 330 keV reach of established technologies (e.g. Xe-based TPCs), probing splittings up to 510 (780) keV in the SHM (LMC) benchmark, while future exposures will probe new regions of the parameter space.

The search for neutrinoless double electron capture (0ν2EC) provides a sensitive probe of lepton-number violation and the Majorana nature of neutrinos. We investigate the 0ν2EC decay of ^40Ca using cryogenic detectors equipped with metallic magnetic calorimeters in the AMoRE-I experiment. The analysis is based on a physics dataset corresponding to a total exposure of 7.32 kg·yr from thirteen ^40Ca^100MoO_4 crystals. No significant excess is observed, and a lower limit on the half-life is obtained as T^0ν_1/2 > 1.7 × 10^22 yr at 90% confidence level. An improved sensitivity is expected for the upcoming AMoRE-II experiment. These results demonstrate the potential of CaMoO_4 detectors to explore rare decay processes beyond the primary ^100Mo 0νββ search program.

The CUP array of germanium (CAGe) is an array of fourteen high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors. The detection efficiency of full-energy-peak emitted from the various samples assayed on the CAGe was calculated using the Monte Carlo simulation toolkit GEANT4. If the dead layer on the surface of the crystal is treated in the simulation as a continuous part of the active crystal, then the detection efficiency will be overestimated. Thus, the detection efficiency of the CAGe was adjusted using multi-nuclide source data and Monte Carlo simulations. The gamma spectra of the known activity source were obtained for each HPGe detector of the CAGe. The detection efficiency measured by the multi-source data was smaller than that of simulation data if the simulation treated the whole volume of germanium crystals as active for gamma detection. By optimizing the dead layers' thicknesses in the simulation, the detection efficiency calculated by the simulation could be matched to that of multi-source data.

The past few decades have seen major developments in the design and operation of cryogenic particle detectors. This technology offers an extremely good energy resolution, comparable to semiconductor detectors, and a wide choice of target materials, making low temperature calorimetric detectors ideal for a variety of particle physics applications. Rare event searches have continued to require ever greater exposures, which has driven them to ever larger cryogenic detectors, with the CUORE experiment being the first to reach a tonne-scale, mK-cooled, experimental mass. CUORE, designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay, has been operational since 2017 at a temperature of about 10 mK. This result has been attained by the use of an unprecedentedly large cryogenic infrastructure called the CUORE cryostat: conceived, designed and commissioned for this purpose. In this article the main characteristics and features of the cryogenic facility developed for the CUORE experiment are highlighted. A brief introduction of the evolution of the field and of the past cryogenic facilities are given. The motivation behind the design and development of the CUORE cryogenic facility is detailed as are the steps taken toward realization, commissioning, and operation of the CUORE cryostat. The major challenges overcome by the collaboration and the solutions implemented throughout the building of the cryogenic facility will be discussed along with the potential improvements for future facilities. The success of CUORE has opened the door to a new generation of large-scale cryogenic facilities in numerous fields of science. Broader implications of the incredible feat achieved by the CUORE collaboration on the future cryogenic facilities in various fields ranging from neutrino and dark matter experiments to quantum computing will be examined.

Searches for new physics push experiments to look for increasingly rare interactions. As a result, detectors require increasing sensitivity and specificity, and materials must be screened for naturally occurring, background-producing radioactivity. Furthermore, the detectors used for screening must approach the sensitivities of the physics-search detectors themselves, thus motivating iterative development of detectors capable of both physics searches and background screening. We report on the design, installation, and performance of a novel, low-background, fourteen-element high-purity germanium detector named the CAGe (CUP Array of Germanium), installed at the Yangyang underground laboratory in Korea.

Searches for new physics push experiments to look for increasingly rare interactions. As a result, detectors require increasing sensitivity and specificity, and materials must be screened for naturally occurring, background-producing radioactivity. Furthermore the detectors used for screening must approach the sensitivities of the physics-search detectors themselves, thus motivating iterative development of detectors capable of both physics searches and background screening. We report on the design, installation, and performance of a novel, low-background, fourteen-element high-purity germanium detector named the CAGe (CUP Array of Germanium), installed at the Yangyang underground laboratory in Korea.

180 m Ta, which is the second excited state of 180 Ta at E x = 77 keV, is naturally occurring and is the only known stable isomer. The half-life of 180 m Ta is considered to be an important parameter for nuclear synthesis models for heavy elements. However, the decay of 180 m Ta has never been observed even though several groups tried to measure it. We will search for gamma transitions from 180 m Ta decays in a tantalum sample by using an array of fourteen HPGe detectors recently installed in an underground laboratory at Yangyang, Korea. In preparation for the measurement, Monte-Carlo simulation studies were conducted to optimize the tantalum sample configuration. Based on the simulation study, we decided on a configuration composed of a 2 mm thick disk with diameter of 200 mm and six 2 mm thick rectangular plates with dimension of 158 × 195 mm 2 . The finalized tantalum sample configuration gives 2.0 and 7.5 coincidence events per year for the EC and the β -decay of 180 m Ta, respectively. In this study, we used T 1/2 =2.0 × 10 17 years and T 1/2 = 5.8 × 10 16 years for the EC and β -decay which are the present best lower-limits as reported by B. Lehnert et al.

A discovery that neutrinos are Majorana fermions would have profound implications for particle physics and cosmology. The Majorana character of neutrinos would make possible the neutrinoless double-β (0νββ) decay, a matter-creating process without the balancing emission of antimatter. The GERDA Collaboration searches for the 0νββ decay of 76Ge by operating bare germanium detectors in an active liquid argon shield. With a total exposure of 82.4 kg⋅year, we observe no signal and derive a lower half-life limit of T 1/2 > 0.9 × 1026 years (90% C.L.). Our T 1/2 sensitivity, assuming no signal, is 1.1 × 1026 years. Combining the latter with those from other 0νββ decay searches yields a sensitivity to the effective Majorana neutrino mass of 0.07 to 0.16 electron volts.

The CUORE experiment, a ton-scale cryogenic bolometer array, recently began operation at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. The array represents a significant advancement in this technology, and in this work we apply it for the first time to a high-sensitivity search for a lepton-number-violating process: ^{130}Te neutrinoless double-beta decay. Examining a total TeO_{2} exposure of 86.3 kg yr, characterized by an effective energy resolution of (7.7±0.5)  keV FWHM and a background in the region of interest of (0.014±0.002)  counts/(keV kg yr), we find no evidence for neutrinoless double-beta decay. Including systematic uncertainties, we place a lower limit on the decay half-life of T_{1/2}^{0ν}(^{130}Te)>1.3×10^{25}  yr (90% C.L.); the median statistical sensitivity of this search is 7.0×10^{24}  yr. Combining this result with those of two earlier experiments, Cuoricino and CUORE-0, we find T_{1/2}^{0ν}(^{130}Te)>1.5×10^{25}  yr (90% C.L.), which is the most stringent limit to date on this decay. Interpreting this result as a limit on the effective Majorana neutrino mass, we find m_{ββ}<(110-520)  meV, where the range reflects the nuclear matrix element estimates employed.

An observation of neutrinoless double beta ([Formula: see text]) decay would allow to shed light onto the nature of neutrinos. Gerda (GERmanium Detector Array) aims to discover this process in a background-free search using [Formula: see text]Ge. The experiment is located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) in Italy. Bare, isotopically enriched, high purity germanium detectors are operated in liquid argon. Gerda follows a staged approach. In Phase II 35.6 kg of enriched germanium detectors are operated since December 2015. The application of active background rejection methods, such as a liquid argon scintillation light read-out and pulse shape discrimination of germanium detector signals, allows to reduce the background index to the intended level of [Formula: see text] cts/(keV⋅kg⋅yr). No evidence for the [Formula: see text] decay has been found in 23.2 kg⋅yr of Phase II data, and together with data from Phase I the up-to-date most stringent half-life limit for this process in [Formula: see text]Ge has been established, at a median sensitivity of 5.8⋅10[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]yr the 90[Formula: see text]% C.L. lower limit is 8.0⋅10[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]yr.

The observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay (0 nu beta beta) would show that lepton number is violated, reveal that neutrinos are Majorana particles, and provide information on neutrino mass. A discovery-capable experiment covering the inverted ordering region, with effective Majorana neutrino masses of 15 - 50 meV, will require a tonne-scale experiment with excellent energy resolution and extremely low backgrounds, at the level of similar to 0.1 count/(FWHM.t.yr) in the region of the signal. The current generation Ge-76 experiments GERDA and the Majorana Demonstrator, utilizing high purity Germanium detectors with an intrinsic energy resolution of 0.12%, have achieved the lowest backgrounds by over an order of magnitude in the 0 nu beta beta signal region of all 0 nu beta beta experiments. Building on this success, the LEGEND collaboration has been formed to pursue a tonne-scale Ge-76 experiment. The collaboration aims to develop a phased 0 nu beta beta experimental program with discovery potential at a half-life approaching or at 1028 years, using existing resources as appropriate to expedite physics results.

We describe in detail the methods used to obtain the lower bound on the lifetime of neutrinoless double-beta (0 nu beta beta) decay in Te-130 and the associated limit on the effective Majorana mass of the neutrino using the CUORE-0 detector. CUORE-0 is a bolometric detector array located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso that was designed to validate the background reduction techniques developed for CUORE, a next-generation experiment scheduled to come online in 2016. CUORE-0 is also a competitive 0 nu beta beta decay search in its own right and functions as a platform to further develop the analysis tools and procedures to be used in CUORE. These include data collection, event selection and processing, as well as an evaluation of signal efficiency. In particular, we describe the amplitude evaluation, thermal gain stabilization, energy calibration methods, and the analysis event selection used to create our final 0 nu beta beta search spectrum. We define our high level analysis procedures, with emphasis on the new insights gained and challenges encountered. We outline in detail our fitting methods near the hypothesized 0 nu beta beta decay peak and catalog the main sources of systematic uncertainty. Finally, we derive the 0 nu beta beta decay half-life limits previously reported for CUORE-0, T-1/2(0 nu) > 2.7 x 10(24) yr, and in combination with the Cuoricino limit, T-1/2(0 nu) > 4.0 x 10(24) yr.

A convincing observation of neutrino-less double beta decay (0$\nu$DBD) relies on the possibility of operating high energy-resolution detectors in background-free conditions. Scintillating cryogenic calorimeters are one of the most promising tools to fulfill the requirements for a next-generation experiment. Several steps have been taken to demonstrate the maturity of this technique, starting from the successful experience of CUPID-0. The CUPID-0 experiment demonstrated the complete rejection of the dominant alpha background measuring the lowest counting rate in the region of interest for this technique. Furthermore, the most stringent limit on the $^{82}$Se 0$\nu$DBD was established running 26 ZnSe crystals during two years of continuous detector operation. In this contribution we present the final results of CUPID-0 Phase I including a detailed model of the background, the measurement of the $^{82}$Se 2$\nu$DBD half-life and the evidence that this nuclear transition is single state dominated.

We report the recent progress on critical temperature switch development for metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs). The superconducting planar coil of a micro-fabricated MMC is charged with a persistent current, which serves as the stable field current to magnetize the sensor material. Part of the Nb superconducting circuit is fabricated with an alloy of Nb and Ta (NbTa), another superconducting material with a transition temperature (T C ) that is lower than that of Nb. A persistent current can be injected into the loop while lowering the temperature from above to below the T C of the NbTa switch. Resistance measurements of a sputtered film of a NbTa alloy with a Ta concentration of 62% showed a clear superconducting transition at 5.29 K. Using one of the completed MMC devices, the ability to use the T C switch for charging with a persistent current up to 120 mA was tested by means of magnetization measurements. The magnetization measurements recorded with a DC-SQUID were in good agreement with the calculated values in all tested cases with four different currents. These results indicate that an MMC can be charged with a persistent current as expected using the T C switch. This work is the first demonstration of the proposed T C switch in a complete MMC setup. Based on the present progress, future studies will investigate multi-channel operation and the development of a hybrid setup with an on-chip heater.

The Center for Underground Physics has developed in collaboration with CANBERRA a low background instrument composed of 14 HPGe detectors divided in two arrays facing each other. The performance and the background of a single detector of the array have been studied in order to improve the array final configuration. An accurate material selection, through the measurements of building material samples and Monte Carlo simulations based on Geant4, has been performed to reach the lowest possible intrinsic background. Alternative materials and configurations have been considered for the final design of the array simulating the expected intrinsic background of the instrument considering the needed changes. The expected sensitivity of the improved array configuration, concerning the low background material selection for rare events physics experiments, has been evaluated through Monte Carlo simulations considering 232Th concentration in a Copper sample. Since the array can also be used for rare decays searches, the expected sensitivity on the 156Dy resonant double electron capture has thus been calculated.