Ultrasensitive Investigation of the Double Beta Decay       Ge-76 using Large Crystals of Deep Mined Germanium          (Physics)
{'Code': '03010600', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'MPS', 'LongName': 'Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'PHY', 'LongName': 'Division Of Physics'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'John W. Lightbody, Jr.', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
This proposal is for the continuation of support for                       development of a large 6 crystal ultralow background Ge                         spectrometer, and its installation in the Homestake goldmine.                   The detector will be used for a sensitive search for all modes                  of the double beta decay of Germanium-76.  An essential feature                 of the detector is reduced background due to contaminants.                      Primordial contaminants have been reduced by more than three                    orders of magnitude.  New sources of background have also been                  removed.  The data from the present ultralow background                         prototype detectors have been combined with other data to place                 a limit of 4x1023yr. for the neutrinoless double beta-decay of                  Germanium-76, corresponding to a neutrino mass less than 2.4eV                  using the shell model nuclear structure calculations.  Although                 this limit has recently been surpassed by the Santa Barbara/LBL                 group, the present detector, which was specially deep mined and                 is very low in cosmogenic radioactivity (below 0.2                              counts/keV/yr/kg), will permit further reductions in that                       limit.  The low energy portion of the data from the prototype                   was used to place limits on the mass and couplings of dark                      matter candidates and on the coupling of DFS solar axions to                    electrons.  Finally, an anomalous bump was discovered in the                    spectrum of the low background prototype, which was suggestive                  of neutrinoless double beta-decay with a massless or almost                     massless particle.  This exciting possibility, which cannot be                  confirmed or refuted with other Germanium-76 experiments                        because the best ones still have more background in a critical                  region of the spectrum, will be explored in a new improved                      experiment.
{'FirstName': 'Frank', 'LastName': 'Avignone', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'T', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': 'III', 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Frank T Avignone', 'EmailAddress': 'titus3@mac.com', 'NSF_ID': '000150145', 'StartDate': '07/01/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'University of South Carolina at Columbia', 'CityName': 'COLUMBIA', 'ZipCode': '292083403', 'PhoneNumber': '8037777093', 'StreetAddress': '1600 HAMPTON ST', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'South Carolina', 'StateCode': 'SC', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '06', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'SC06', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'J22LNTMEDP73', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': 'J22LNTMEDP73'}
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{'Code': '1232', 'Text': 'Nuclear & Hadron Quantum Chrom'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8805401.xml'}