Possible usage of Cherenkov photons to reduce the background in a 136Xe neutrino-less double-beta decay experiment

One of the main backgrounds in the search for 136Xe nutrino-less double-beta decay (0νββ) is the signal from Compton scattering of photons with energy around the decay endpoint at 2.458 MeV. Electrons in liquid xenon emit scintillation light at 178 nm. Liquid xenon being extremely transparent to ultra violet light it is in principle possible to discriminate one particle events (such as the Compton background) from two particle events (double-beta decay signals) by the amount of Cherenkov radiation emitted. The identification of the Cherenkov photons may be performed by looking at the different time structure of the signal with respect to the scintillation, by selecting photons with wavelengths larger than the typical Xenon scintillation light, and by the different emission topology. A proof-of-principle study of this approach is presented here together with preliminary studies on possible detectors for the two light components at different wavelengths.