New limit on the neutrinoless ββ decay of 130Te -: art. no. 142501

We report the present results of CUORICINO, a search for neutrinoless double-beta (0 nu beta beta) decay of Te-130. The detector is an array of 62 TeO2 bolometers with a total active mass of 40.7 kg. The array is cooled by a dilution refrigerator shielded from environmental radioactivity and energetic neutrons, operated at similar to 8 mK in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory. No evidence for (0 nu beta beta) decay was found and a new lower limit, T-1/2(0 nu)>= 1.8x10(24) yr (90% C.L.) is set, corresponding to < m(nu)><= 0.2 to 1.1 eV, depending on the theoretical nuclear matrix elements used in the analysis.