Joint HEP/Theory Seminar: Improving Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Using Neutrons

Since the earliest measurements of neutrinos, neutron interactions
have been an important part of the detection process. This talk will
focus on measurements of neutrinoless double beta decay, which have
the potential to determine the Dirac/Majorana nature of the neutrino.
In particular, the EXO-200 and nEXO experiments will be highlighted.
After the experimental status and main results are discussed, two
techniques involving neutron interactions will be described. First,
the backgrounds from cosmogenic neutrons in EXO-200 have been studied
in detail, leading to a technique to use neutron capture signals to
reject these backgrounds from future data, improving sensitivity.
Second, neutron inelastic scattering may be used to calibrate a future
large xenon detector such as nEXO. This novel technique offers
advantages over traditional external gamma source calibration.