Abstract
The NUMEN (NUclear Matrix Elements for Neutrinoless double beta decay) project at INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Sud aims to extract quantitative information on the Nuclear Matrix Elements relevant to neutrinoless double beta decay, a key process for determining whether the neutrino is a Majorana or Dirac particle and for establishing its effective mass. This objective will be pursued by measuring the cross sections of double charge exchange reactions induced by intense heavy-ion beams on selected isotopes that are candidates for neutrinoless double beta decay. The need to measure extremely low cross sections with high statistical significance has driven a major upgrade of the entire INFN-LNS infrastructure, enabling the production of heavy-ion beams with intensities up to 1013 pps at the position of the experimental target. Additionally, significant enhancements are being made to the focal plane detectors of the existing MAGNEX spectrometer. A new target system and advanced detectors are under development to track and identify heavy ions at an expected rate of 5×106 Hz at full beam intensity, while also allowing γ-ray detection. This contribution provides an overview of the current status of the NUMEN project, highlighting recent developments and characterization campaigns for nuclear targets and detector systems.