A search for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te with a thermal detector

Abstract A 73.1 g TeO2 bolometric detector has been operating for more than two months at about 16 mK in a specially constructed low activity dilution refrigerator installed in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory and shielded against environmental radioactivity. Its energy resolution is comparable with that of a Ge diode. A spectrum of the thermal pulses collected in 1389 h of effective running time shows no evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay of 130Te. The corresponding lower limit of the lifetime is three orders of magnitude more stringent than those obtained for the some nucleus with conventional techniques. It also exceeds the value for the inclusive (two neutrino and neutrinoless) lifetime obtained by geochemical searches. Double beta decay of 130Te has therefore to be attributed mainly to the two neutrino channel