The M\textsc{ajorana} Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Experiment

The objective of the M\textsc{ajorana} collaboration is to study neutrinoless double beta decay $\beta \beta $(0$\nu )$ with an effective Majorana neutrino mass sensitivity near 100 meV in order to characterize the Majorana or Dirac nature of the neutrino, the Majorana mass spectrum, and the absolute mass scale. The M\textsc{ajorana} experiment will consist of a large mass of $^{76}$Ge in the form of high-resolution intrinsic germanium detectors located deep underground within a ultra-low-background shielding environment. The experiment will use a phased deployment approach with a final mass target of order 1 tonne. The first phase, the M\textsc{ajorana} D\textsc{emonstrator}, will deploy 60-kg of germanium detectors with the dual goals of demonstrating background levels suitable for a tonne-scale experiment and testing the Klapdor-Kleingrothaus result (Modern Physics Letters A, Vol. 21, No. 20 (2006) 1547-1566). An overview and status update of the M\textsc{ajorana} experiment will be presented in this talk.