Cerenkov emission as a positive tag of double beta decays in bolometric experiments

Active background reduction in high resolution calorimeters is a promising approach to achieve ultimate sensitivity in neutrinoless double beta decay experiments. We propose Cerenkov emission from beta rays in bolometric crystals as a viable alternative to scintillation. This novel approach could broaden the range of materials of interest for calorimetric searches of the double beta decay. We discuss the optical properties of TeO2 crystals, as a show case. © Springer-Verlag / Società Italiana di Fisica 2009