NEXT-CRAB-0: a high pressure gaseous xenon time projection chamber with a direct VUV camera based readout
The search for neutrinoless double beta decay(0νββ) remains one of the most compelling experimentalavenues for the discovery in the neutrino sector.Electroluminescent gas-phase time projection chambers are wellsuited to 0νββ searches due to their intrinsicallyprecise energy resolution and topological event identificationcapabilities. Scalability to ton- and multi-ton masses requiresreadout of large-area electroluminescent regions with fine spatialresolution, low radiogenic backgrounds, and a scalable dataacquisition system. This paper presents a detector prototype thatrecords event topology in an electroluminescent xenon gas TPC viaVUV image-intensified cameras. This enables an extendable readoutof large tracking planes with commercial devices that reside almostentirely outside of the active medium. Following furtherdevelopment in intermediate scale demonstrators, this technique mayrepresent a novel and enlargeable method for topological eventimaging in 0νββ.