Background suppression in massive TeO$_2$ bolometers with Neganov-Luke amplified light detectors

Understand

Bolometric detectors are excellent devices for the investigation of neutrinoless double-beta decay (0$\nu\beta\beta$).

• The observation of such decay would demonstrate the violation of lepton number, and at the same time it would necessarily imply that neutrinos have a Majorana character.
• The sensitivity of cryogenic detectors based on TeO$_2$ is strongly limited by the alpha background in the region of interest for the 0$\nu\beta\beta$ of $^{130}$Te.
• It has been demonstrated that particle discrimination in TeO$_2$ bolometers is possible measuring the Cherenkov light produced by particle interactions.