NEXT: the search for neutrinoless double beta decay in Xe 136

The detection of neutrinoless double beta decay will be a first demonstration of lepton number violation indicating that the neutrino is a Majorana fermion with profound implications in particle physics and cosmology The NEXT collaboration searches for in Xe 136 employing a high pressure time projection chamber operated with enriched xenon gas The experiment which BGU recently joined has superb energy resolution and unique imaging capabilities allowing it to identify candidate events based on their energy and topological signature Successful operation of a 10 kg prototype at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory in Spain now paves the way to the construction of the NEXT 100 detector which for the next several years will lead the worldwide race for the detection of This talk will provide an overview of the experiment describing its concept current status and future plans as well as the associated experimental effort at BGU