The $^{76}$Ge Program to Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay

Neutrinoless double-beta decay searches play a major role in determining the nature of neutrinos, the existence of a lepton violating process, and the effective Majorana neutrino mass. The {\sc Majorana} and {\sc Gerda} Collaborations are operating arrays of high purity Ge detectors to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in $^{76}$Ge. The {\sc Majorana} {\sc Demonstrator} is operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota while the {\sc Gerda} experiment is operating at LNGS in Italy. The {\sc Gerda} and {\sc Majorana} {\sc Demonstrator} experiments have achieved the lowest backgrounds in the neutrinoless double-beta decay region of interest. These results, coupled with the superior energy resolution (0.1\%) of Ge detectors demonstrate that $^{76}$Ge is an ideal isotope for a large next generation experiment. The LEGEND collaboration, with 220 members from 47 institutions around the world, has been formed to pursue a ton scale $^{76}$Ge experiment. Building on the successes of {\sc Gerda} and {\sc Majorana}, the LEGEND collaboration aims to develop a phased neutrinoless double-beta decay experimental program with discovery potential at a half-life significantly longer than $10^{27}$ years. This talk will present the initial results from the {\sc Majorana} {\sc Demonstrator} and {\sc Gerda} experiments and the plan for the LEGEND program.