- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Letters

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Search for Majorana Neutrinos with the Complete KamLAND-Zen Dataset

S. Abe1,*, T. Araki1, K. Chiba1, T. Eda1, M. Eizuka1, Y. Funahashi1, A. Furuto1, A. Gando1, Y. Gando1,2 et al. (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration)

Y. Gando1,2, S. Goto1, T. Hachiya1, K. Hata1, K. Ichimura1, S. Ieki1, H. Ikeda1, K. Inoue1, K. Ishidoshiro1, Y. Kamei1,†, N. Kawada1, Y. Kishimoto1, M. Koga1,3, A. Marthe1, Y. Matsumoto1, T. Mitsui1,‡, H. Miyake1,4, D. Morita1, R. Nakajima1, K. Nakamura1,§, R. Nakamura1, R. Nakamura1, J. Nakane1, T. Ono1, H. Ozaki1, K. Saito1, T. Sakai1, I. Shimizu1, J. Shirai1, K. Shiraishi1, A. Suzuki1, K. Tachibana1, K. Tamae1, H. Watanabe1, K. Watanabe1, S. Yoshida5, S. Umehara6, K. Fushimi7, K. Kotera8, Y. Urano8,∥, B. E. Berger9, B. K. Fujikawa3,9, J. G. Learned10, J. Maricic10, Z. Fu11, S. Ghosh11, J. Smolsky11, L. A. Winslow11, Y. Efremenko3,12, H. J. Karwowski13, D. M. Markoff13, W. Tornow3,13, S. Dell’Oro14, T. O’Donnell14, J. A. Detwiler3,15, S. Enomoto3,15, M. P. Decowski16, K. M. Weerman16, C. Grant17, Ö. Penek17, H. Song17, A. Li18, S. N. Axani19, M. Garcia19, and M. Sarfraz19 (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration)

  • 1Research Center for Neutrino Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
  • 2Department of Human Science, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan
  • 3Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan
  • 4Graduate Program on Physics for the Universe, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
  • 5Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan
  • 6Research Center for Nuclear Physics, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan
  • 7Department of Physics, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8506, Japan
  • 8Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8502, Japan
  • 9Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 10Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA
  • 11Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
  • 12Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
  • 13Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA; Physics Departments at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA; North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina 27707, USA; and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
  • 14Center for Neutrino Physics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA
  • 15Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
  • 16Nikhef and the University of Amsterdam, Science Park, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • 17Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
  • 18Hal𝚤c𝚤oğlu Data Science Institute, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093, USA
  • 19Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA

  • *Present address: Kamioka Observatory, Institute for Cosmic-Ray Research, The University of Tokyo, Hida, Gifu 506-1205, Japan.
  • †Present address: Center for Advanced Photonics, RIKEN, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan.
  • ‡Present address: Faculty of Health Sciences, Butsuryo College of Osaka, Sakai, Osaka 593-8328, Japan.
  • §Also at Faculty of Environmental and Urban Engineering, Kansai University, Suita, Osaka 564-8680, Japan.
  • ∥Present address: Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8577, Japan.
PDF

Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 262501 – Published 29 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jkf6-48j8

Abstract

We present a search for neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay of Xe136 using the full KamLAND-Zen 800 dataset with 745 kg of enriched xenon, corresponding to an exposure of 2.1 ton yr of Xe136. This updated search benefits from a more than twofold increase in exposure, recovery of photo-sensor gain, and reduced background from muon-induced spallation of xenon. Combining with the search in the previous KamLAND-Zen phase, we obtain a lower limit for the 0νββ decay halflife of T1/20ν>3.8×1026  yr at 90% CL, a factor of 1.7 improvement over the previous limit. The corresponding upper limits on the effective Majorana neutrino mass are in the range 28–122 meV using phenomenological nuclear matrix element calculations.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (56)

  1. M. Agostini, G. Benato, J. A. Detwiler, J. Menéndez, and F. Vissani, Rev. Mod. Phys. 95, 025002 (2023).
  2. M. Fukugita and T. Yanagida, Phys. Lett. B 174, 45 (1986).
  3. S. Abe et al. (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 051801 (2023).
  4. K. Harigaya, M. Ibe, and T. T. Yanagida, Phys. Rev. D 86, 013002 (2012).
  5. T. Asaka, Y. Heo, and T. Yoshida, Phys. Lett. B 811, 135956 (2020).
  6. K. Asai, Eur. Phys. J. C 80, 76 (2020).
  7. M. Agostini, G. Benato, and J. A. Detwiler, Phys. Rev. D 96, 053001 (2017).
  8. A. Gando et al. (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration), Phys. Rev. C 85, 045504 (2012).
  9. A. Gando et al. (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration), Phys. Rev. C 86, 021601 (2012).
  10. A. Gando et al. (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 062502 (2013).
  11. K. Asakura et al. (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration), Nucl. Phys. A946, 171 (2016).
  12. A. Gando et al. (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 082503 (2016).
  13. A. Gando et al. (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 192501 (2019).
  14. Y. Gando et al. (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration), J. Instrum. 16, P08023 (2021).
  15. M. Redshaw, E. Wingfield, J. McDaniel, and E. G. Myers, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 053003 (2007).
  16. S. Agostinelli et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 506, 250 (2003).
  17. J. Allison et al., IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 53, 270 (2006).
  18. A. Li, Z. Fu, C. Grant, H. Ozaki, I. Shimizu, H. Song, A. Takeuchi, and L. A. Winslow, Phys. Rev. C 107, 014323 (2023).
  19. A. M. Serenelli, W. C. Haxton, and C. Peña-Garay, Astrophys. J. 743, 24 (2011).
  20. H. Ejiri and S. R. Elliott, Phys. Rev. C 89, 055501 (2014).
  21. D. Frekers, P. Puppe, J. H. Thies, and H. Ejiri, Nucl. Phys. A916, 219 (2013).
  22. S. W. Li and J. F. Beacom, Phys. Rev. C 89, 045801 (2014).
  23. S. W. Li and J. F. Beacom, Phys. Rev. D 91, 105005 (2015).
  24. S. W. Li and J. F. Beacom, Phys. Rev. D 92, 105033 (2015).
  25. Y. Zhang et al. (Super-Kamiokande Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 93, 012004 (2016).
  26. S. Abe et al. (KamLAND-Zen Collaboration), Phys. Rev. C 107, 054612 (2023).
  27. T. Böhlen, F. Cerutti, M. P. W. Chin, A. Fassò, A. Ferrari, P. G. Ortega, A. Mairani, P. R. Sala, G. Smirnov, and V. Vlachoudis, Nucl. Data Sheets 120, 211 (2014).
  28. A. Ferrari and et al., fluka: A Multi-Particle Transport Code (Program Version 2005), CERN Yellow Reports: Monographs (CERN, Geneva, 2005), 10.2172/877507.
  29. S. Navas et al. (Particle Data Group), Phys. Rev. D 110, 030001 (2024).
  30. S. Abe et al. (KamLAND Collaboration), Phys. Rev. C 81, 025807 (2010).
  31. G. J. Feldman and R. D. Cousins, Phys. Rev. D 57, 3873 (1998).
  32. J. Kotila and F. Iachello, Phys. Rev. C 85, 034316 (2012).
  33. S. Stoica and M. Mirea, Phys. Rev. C 88, 037303 (2013); updated in arXiv:1411.5506v3.
  34. A. Belley, T. Miyagi, S. R. Stroberg, and J. D. Holt, arXiv:2307.15156v1.
  35. L. Jokiniemi, B. Romeo, P. Soriano, and J. Menéndez, Phys. Rev. C 107, 044305 (2023).
  36. A. Faessler, G. L. Fogli, E. Lisi, V. Rodin, A. M. Rotunno, and F Šimkovic, J. Phys. G 35, 075104 (2008).
  37. J. Barea, J. Kotila, and F. Iachello, Phys. Rev. C 87, 014315 (2013).
  38. V. Cirigliano, W. Dekens, Jordy de Vries, Michael L. Graesser, Emanuele Mereghetti, Saori Pastore, and Ubirajara van Kolck, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 202001 (2018).
  39. M. Agostini et al. (GERDA Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 252502 (2020).
  40. D. Q. Adams et al. (CUORE Collaboration), Nature (London) 604, 53 (2022).
  41. S. Dell’Oro, S. Marcocci, and F. Vissani, Phys. Rev. D 90, 033005 (2014).
  42. nufit 5.0, available at http://www.nu-fit.org (2020).
  43. J. Menéndez, J. Phys. G 45, 014003 (2018).
  44. M. Horoi and A. Neacsu, Phys. Rev. C 93, 024308 (2016).
  45. L. Coraggio, A. Gargano, N. Itaco, R. Mancino, and F. Nowacki, Phys. Rev. C 101, 044315 (2020).
  46. L. Coraggio, N. Itaco, G. De Gregorio, A. Gargano, R. Mancino, and F. Nowacki, Phys. Rev. C 105, 034312 (2022).
  47. M. T. Mustonen and J. Engel, Phys. Rev. C 87, 064302 (2013).
  48. J. Hyvärinen and J. Suhonen, Phys. Rev. C 91, 024613 (2015).
  49. F. Šimkovic, A. Smetana, and P. Vogel, Phys. Rev. C 98, 064325 (2018).
  50. D.-L. Fang, A. Faessler, and F. Šimkovic, Phys. Rev. C 97, 045503 (2018).
  51. J. Terasaki, Phys. Rev. C 102, 044303 (2020).
  52. T. R. Rodríguez and G. Martínez-Pinedo, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 252503 (2010).
  53. N. L. Vaquero, T. R. Rodríguez, and J. L. Egido, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 142501 (2013).
  54. L. S. Song, J. M. Yao, P. Ring, and J. Meng, Phys. Rev. C 95, 024305 (2017).
  55. J. Barea, J. Kotila, and F. Iachello, Phys. Rev. C 91, 034304 (2015).
  56. F. F. Deppisch, L. Graf, F. Iachello, and J. Kotila, Phys. Rev. D 102, 095016 (2020).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 262501– Published 29 December, 2025
  • Received 17 June 2024
  • Revised 17 June 2025
  • Accepted 24 October 2025
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation