Thesis

BINGO is an innovative neutrino physics project designed to lay the groundwork for a large-scale bolometric experiment dedicated to the search for neutrinoless double beta decay. The goal is to achieve an extremely low background index—on the order of 10^-5 counts/(keV·kg·yr)—while delivering excellent energy resolution in the region of interest. These performance levels will enable the exploration of lepton number violation with unprecedented sensitivity.

The project relies on scintillating bolometers, which are particularly effective at rejecting the dominant background caused by surface alpha particles. It focuses on two highly promising isotopes, 100Mo and 130Te, whose complementary properties make them both strong candidates for future large-scale investigations.

BINGO introduces three major innovations to the well-established heat-light hybrid bolometer technology. First, the sensitivity of the light detectors will be enhanced by an order of magnitude through the use of Neganov-Luke amplification. Second, a novel detector assembly design will reduce surface radioactivity contributions by at least an order of magnitude. Third, and for the first time in a macrobolometer array, an internal active shield made of ultrapure BGO scintillators with bolometric light readout will be implemented to suppress external gamma background.

As part of this thesis work, the student will take part in the assembly and installation of the active cryogenic veto for the MINI-BINGO demonstrator within the cryostat recently installed at the Modane Underground Laboratory. He/she will be involved in data acquisition and analysis, and will contribute to evaluating the final background rejection enabled by the performance of the detector’s final configuration.