Measurement of the 85Kr specific activity in the GERDA liquid argon
Journal
The European Physical Journal C
Journal Volume
85
Journal Issue
5
Start Page
518
ISSN
1434-6052
Date Issued
2025-05-12
Author(s)
Abstract
The radioactive isotope 85Kr is found in significant quantities in the atmosphere largely due to nuclear industry. Its β-decay with a half-life of 10.7 years and a Q-value of 687 keV is a dangerous background source for low-threshold noble gas and liquid detectors, which distill their detector medium from air. The Gerda experiment was operating high-purity germanium detectors immersed in a clean liquid argon bath deep underground to search for neutrinoless double beta decay with unprecedented sensitivity. The 85Kr specific activity in the liquid argon at the start of the second phase of the experiment has been determined to be (0.36±0.03) mBq/kg through an analysis of the full subsequent data set that exploits the excellent γ-ray spectroscopic capabilities of Gerda.
SDGs
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Type
journal article