Majorana: Plans for the Future

Plans for the Future
For more information, contact Majorana Collaboration Spokesperson: Steve Elliott (elliotts@lanl.gov)

The Majorana Demonstrator is ultimately a research and development project aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of ton-scale 76Ge-based neutrinoless double-beta decay search. There is another R&D project in Europe (called GERDA, for GERmanium Detector Array). Germanium detectors must be cooled in order to operate.  Majorana plans to accomplish this using traditional vacuum cryostats, while GERDA plans to cool their detectors by running them directly in liquid cryogen. We are working cooperatively with the GERDA collaboration to prepare for a single international ton-scale experiment combining the best features of both MAJORANA and GERDA.