Determining the neutrino mass with Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy - Project 8

• Main Authors: Esfahani, Ali Ashtari, Asner, David M, Böser, Sebastian, Cervantes, Raphael, Claessens, Christine, de Viveiros, Luiz, Doe, Peter J, Doeleman, Shepard, Fernandes, Justin L, Fertl, Martin, Finn, Erin C, Formaggio, Joseph A, Furse, Daniel, Guigue, Mathieu, Heeger, Karsten M, Jones, A. Mark, Kazkaz, Kareem, Kofron, Jared A, Lamb, Callum, LaRoque, Benjamin H, Machado, Eric, McBride, Elizabeth L, Miller, Michael L, Monreal, Benjamin, Mohanmurthy, Prajwal, Nikkel, James A, Oblath, Noah S, Pettus, Walter C, Robertson, R. G. Hamish, Rosenberg, Leslie J, Rybka, Gray, Rysewyk, Devyn, Saldaña, Luis, Slocum, Penny L, Sternberg, Matthew G, Tedeschi, Jonathan R, Thümmler, Thomas, VanDevender, Brent A, Vertatschitsch, Laura E, Wachtendonk, Megan, Weintroub, Jonathan, Woods, Natasha L, Young, André, Zayas, Evan M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 06-03-2017
• Subjects: Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment; Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors; Physics - Nuclear Experiment
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1703.02037

JPhysG 44 (2017) 5 The most sensitive direct method to establish the absolute neutrino mass is
observation of the endpoint of the tritium beta-decay spectrum. Cyclotron
Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) is a precision spectrographic technique
that can probe much of the unexplored neutrino mass range with
$\mathcal{O}({\rm eV})$ resolution. A lower bound of $m(\nu_e) \gtrsim 9(0.1)\,
{\rm meV}$ is set by observations of neutrino oscillations, while the KATRIN
Experiment - the current-generation tritium beta-decay experiment that is based
on Magnetic Adiabatic Collimation with an Electrostatic (MAC-E) filter - will
achieve a sensitivity of $m(\nu_e) \lesssim 0.2\,{\rm eV}$. The CRES technique
aims to avoid the difficulties in scaling up a MAC-E filter-based experiment to
achieve a lower mass sensitivity. In this paper we review the current status of
the CRES technique and describe Project 8, a phased absolute neutrino mass
experiment that has the potential to reach sensitivities down to $m(\nu_e)
\lesssim 40\,{\rm meV}$ using an atomic tritium source.