Project 8: Using Radio-Frequency Techniques to Measure Neutrino Mass
Name
Formaggio_Project 8.pdf
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238.05 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
0536d216397bbd450795513704d16be4
Author(s)
Formaggio, Joseph A
Date Issued
August 2012
Journal
Nuclear Physics B - Proceedings Supplements
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
Formaggio, J.A. “Project 8: Using Radio-Frequency Techniques to Measure Neutrino Mass.” Nuclear Physics B - Proceedings Supplements 229–232 (August 2012): 371–375.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
The shape of the beta decay energy distribution is sensitive to the mass of the electron neutrino. Attempts to measure the endpoint shape of tritium decay have so far seen no distortion from the zero-mass form. Here we show that a new type of electron energy spectroscopy could improve future measurements of this spectrum and therefore of the neutrino mass. We propose to detect the coherent cyclotron radiation emitted by an energetic electron in a magnetic field. For mildly relativistic electrons, like those in tritium decay, the relativistic shift of the cyclotron frequency allows us to extract the electron energy from the emitted radiation. As the technique inherently involves the measurement of a frequency in a non-destructive manner, it can, in principle, achieve a high degree of resolution and accuracy.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2012.09.058
