First Results on the Search for Lepton Number Violating Neutrinoless Double-β Decay with the LEGEND-200 Experiment

The LEGEND Collaboration is searching for neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay by operating high-purity germanium detectors enriched in ^{76}Ge in a low-background liquid argon environment. Building on key technological innovations from the GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment and the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR experiment, LEGEND-200 has performed a first 0νββ decay search based on 61.0 kg yr of data. Over half of this exposure comes from our highest performing detectors, including newly developed inverted-coaxial detectors, and is characterized by an estimated background level of 0.5_{-0.2}^{+0.3}  cts/(keV ton yr) in the 0νββ decay signal region. A combined analysis of data from GERDA, the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, and LEGEND-200, characterized by a 90% confidence level exclusion sensitivity of 2.8×10^{26}  yr on the half-life of 0νββ decay, reveals no evidence for a signal and sets a new observed lower limit at T_{1/2}^{0ν}>1.9×10^{26}  yr (90% confidence level). Assuming the decay is mediated by Majorana neutrinos, this corresponds to an upper limit on the effective Majorana mass in the range m_{ββ}<75-200  meV, depending on the adopted nuclear matrix element.