Search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos with the first KATRIN data
Name
10052_2023_Article_11818.pdf
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1.14 MB
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Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Aker, M.
Batzler, D.
Beglarian, A.
Behrens, J.
Berlev, A.
Besserer, U.
Bieringer, B.
Block, F.
Bobien, S.
Bornschein, B.
Date Issued
August 29, 2023
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Citation
The European Physical Journal C. 2023 Aug 29;83(8):763
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Abstract
In this work we present a keV-scale sterile-neutrino search with a low-tritium-activity data set of the KATRIN experiment, acquired in a commissioning run in 2018. KATRIN performs a spectroscopic measurement of the tritium
$$\upbeta $$
β
-decay spectrum with the main goal of directly determining the effective electron anti-neutrino mass. During this commissioning phase a lower tritium activity facilitated the measurement of a wider part of the tritium spectrum and thus the search for sterile neutrinos with a mass of up to
$$1.6\, \textrm{keV}$$
1.6
keV
. We do not find a signal and set an exclusion limit on the sterile-to-active mixing amplitude of
$$\sin ^2\theta < 5\times 10^{-4}$$
sin
2
θ
<
5
×
10
-
4
(
$$95\%$$
95
%
C.L.) at a mass of 0.3 keV. This result improves current laboratory-based bounds in the sterile-neutrino mass range between 0.1 and 1.0 keV.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11818-y
