Model for the Cherenkov light emission of TeO$_{2}$ cryogenic calorimeters

Understand

The most sensitive process able to probe the Majorana nature of neutrinos and discover Lepton Number Violation is the neutrino-less double beta decay.

• Thanks to the excellent energy resolution, efficiency and intrinsic radio-purity, cryogenic calorimeters are primed for the search for this process.
• A novel approach able to improve the sensitivity of the current experiments is the rejection of $\alpha$ interactions, that represents the dominant background source.
• In TeO$_2$ calorimeters, $\alpha$ particles can be tagged as, in contrast to electrons, they do not emit Cherenkov light.