Search for double beta decay of $^{116}$Cd with enriched   $^{116}$CdWO$_4$ crystal scintillators (Aurora experiment)
  The Aurora experiment to investigate double beta decay of $^{116}$Cd with the help of 1.162 kg cadmium tungstate crystal scintillators enriched in $^{116}$Cd to 82\% is in progress at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory. The half-life of $^{116}$Cd relatively to the two neutrino double beta decay is measured with the highest up-to-date accuracy $T_{1/2}=(2.62\pm0.14)\times10^{19}$ yr. The sensitivity of the experiment to the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{116}$Cd to the ground state of $^{116}$Sn is estimated as $T_{1/2} \geq 1.9\times10^{23}$ yr at 90\% CL, which corresponds to the effective Majorana neutrino mass limit $\langle m_{\nu}\rangle \leq (1.2-1.8)$ eV. New limits are obtained for the double beta decay of $^{116}$Cd to the excited levels of $^{116}$Sn, and for the neutrinoless double beta decay with emission of majorons. 
F.A. Danevich, A.S. Barabash, P. Belli, R. Bernabei, F. Cappella, V.   Caracciolo, R. Cerulli, D.M. Chernyak, S. d'Angelo, A...
nucl-ex physics.ins-det