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 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 keV. We do not find a signal and set an exclusion limit on the sterile-to-active mixing amplitude of $\text {sin}^{2}\: \theta<5\times 10^{-4}\: (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.
The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment (KATRIN) aims to determine the effective electron (anti)-neutrino mass with a sensitivity of 0.2eV/c \(^2\) by precisely measuring the endpoint region of the ...tritium \(\beta \) -decay spectrum. It uses a tandem of electrostatic spectrometers working as magnetic adiabatic collimation combined with an electrostatic (MAC-E) filters. In the space between the pre-spectrometer and the main spectrometer, creating a Penning trap is unavoidable when the superconducting magnet between the two spectrometers, biased at their respective nominal potentials, is energized. The electrons accumulated in this trap can lead to discharges, which create additional background electrons and endanger the spectrometer and detector section downstream. To counteract this problem, “electron catchers” were installed in the beamline inside the magnet bore between the two spectrometers. These catchers can be moved across the magnetic-flux tube and intercept on a sub-ms time scale the stored electrons along their magnetron motion paths. In this paper, we report on the design and the successful commissioning of the electron catchers and present results on their efficiency in reducing the experimental background.
The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment is designed to measure a high-precision integral spectrum of the endpoint region of T2 beta decay, with the primary goal of probing the absolute ...mass scale of the neutrino. After a first tritium commissioning campaign in 2018, the experiment has been regularly running since 2019, and in its first two measurement campaigns has already achieved a sub-eV sensitivity. After 1000 days of data-taking, KATRIN's design sensitivity is 0.2 eV at the 90% confidence level. In this white paper we describe the current status of KATRIN; explore prospects for measuring the neutrino mass and other physics observables, including sterile neutrinos and other beyond-Standard-Model hypotheses; and discuss research-and-development projects that may further improve the KATRIN sensitivity.
Some extensions of the Standard Model of Particle Physics allow for Lorentz invariance and Charge-Parity-Time (CPT)-invariance violations. In the neutrino sector strong constraints have been set by ...neutrino-oscillation and time-of-flight experiments. However, some Lorentz-invariance-violating parameters are not accessible via these probes. In this work, we focus on the parameters \((a_{\text{of}}^{(3)})_{00}\), \((a_{\text{of}}^{(3)})_{10}\) and \((a_{\text{of}}^{(3)})_{11}\) which would manifest themselves in a non-isotropic beta-decaying source as a sidereal oscillation and an overall shift of the spectral endpoint. Based on the data of the first scientific run of the KATRIN experiment, we set the first limit on \(\left|(a_{\text{of}}^{(3)})_{11}\right|\) of \(< 3.7\cdot10^{-6}\) GeV at 90\% confidence level. Moreover, we derive new constraints on \((a_{\text{of}}^{(3)})_{00}\) and \((a_{\text{of}}^{(3)})_{10}\).
In this work we present a keV-scale sterile-neutrino search with the first
tritium data of the KATRIN experiment, acquired in the commissioning run in
2018. KATRIN performs a spectroscopic ...measurement of the tritium $\beta$-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 search for sterile neutrinos with a mass of up to $1.6\,
\mathrm{keV}$. We do not find a signal and set an exclusion limit on the
sterile-to-active mixing amplitude of down to $\sin^2\theta < 5\cdot10^{-4}$
($95\,\%$ C.L.), improving current laboratory-based bounds in the
sterile-neutrino mass range between 0.1 and $1.0\, \mathrm{keV}$.
We report on the direct cosmic relic neutrino background search from the first two science runs of the KATRIN experiment in 2019. Beta-decay electrons from a high-purity molecular tritium gas source ...are analyzed by a high-resolution MAC-E filter around the kinematic endpoint at 18.57 keV. The analysis is sensitive to a local relic neutrino overdensity of 9.7e10 (1.1e11) at a 90% (95%) confidence level. A fit of the integrated electron spectrum over a narrow interval around the kinematic endpoint accounting for relic neutrino captures in the Tritium source reveals no significant overdensity. This work improves the results obtained by the previous kinematic neutrino mass experiments at Los Alamos and Troitsk. We furthermore update the projected final sensitivity of the KATRIN experiment to <1e10 at 90% confidence level, by relying on updated operational conditions.
We present the results of the light sterile neutrino search from the second KATRIN measurement campaign in 2019. Approaching nominal activity, \(3.76 \times 10^6\) tritium \(\beta\)-electrons are ...analyzed in an energy window extending down to \(40\,\)eV below the tritium endpoint at \(E_0 = 18.57\,\)keV. We consider the \(3\nu+1\) framework with three active and one sterile neutrino flavor. The analysis is sensitive to a fourth mass eigenstate \(m_4^2\lesssim1600\,\)eV\(^2\) and active-to-sterile mixing \(|U_{e4}|^2 \gtrsim 6 \times 10^{-3}\). As no sterile-neutrino signal was observed, we provide improved exclusion contours on \(m_4^2\) and \(|U_{e4}|^2\) at \(95\,\)% C.L. Our results supersede the limits from the Mainz and Troitsk experiments. Furthermore, we are able to exclude the large \(\Delta m_{41}^2\) solutions of the reactor antineutrino and gallium anomalies to a great extent. The latter has recently been reaffirmed by the BEST collaboration and could be explained by a sterile neutrino with large mixing. While the remaining solutions at small \(\Delta m_{41}^2\) are mostly excluded by short-baseline reactor experiments, KATRIN is the only ongoing laboratory experiment to be sensitive to relevant solutions at large \(\Delta m_{41}^2\) through a robust spectral shape analysis.
The KATRIN experiment is designed for a direct and model-independent determination of the effective electron anti-neutrino mass via a high-precision measurement of the tritium \(\beta\)-decay ...endpoint region with a sensitivity on \(m_\nu\) of 0.2\(\,\)eV/c\(^2\) (90% CL). For this purpose, the \(\beta\)-electrons from a high-luminosity windowless gaseous tritium source traversing an electrostatic retarding spectrometer are counted to obtain an integral spectrum around the endpoint energy of 18.6\(\,\)keV. A dominant systematic effect of the response of the experimental setup is the energy loss of \(\beta\)-electrons from elastic and inelastic scattering off tritium molecules within the source. We determined the \linebreak energy-loss function in-situ with a pulsed angular-selective and monoenergetic photoelectron source at various tritium-source densities. The data was recorded in integral and differential modes; the latter was achieved by using a novel time-of-flight technique. We developed a semi-empirical parametrization for the energy-loss function for the scattering of 18.6-keV electrons from hydrogen isotopologs. This model was fit to measurement data with a 95% T\(_2\) gas mixture at 30\(\,\)K, as used in the first KATRIN neutrino mass analyses, as well as a D\(_2\) gas mixture of 96% purity used in KATRIN commissioning runs. The achieved precision on the energy-loss function has abated the corresponding uncertainty of \(\sigma(m_\nu^2)<10^{-2}\,\mathrm{eV}^2\) arXiv:2101.05253 in the KATRIN neutrino-mass measurement to a subdominant level.
We report on the data set, data handling, and detailed analysis techniques of the first neutrino-mass measurement by the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment, which probes the absolute ...neutrino-mass scale via the \(\beta\)-decay kinematics of molecular tritium. The source is highly pure, cryogenic T\(_2\) gas. The \(\beta\) electrons are guided along magnetic field lines toward a high-resolution, integrating spectrometer for energy analysis. A silicon detector counts \(\beta\) electrons above the energy threshold of the spectrometer, so that a scan of the thresholds produces a precise measurement of the high-energy spectral tail. After detailed theoretical studies, simulations, and commissioning measurements, extending from the molecular final-state distribution to inelastic scattering in the source to subtleties of the electromagnetic fields, our independent, blind analyses allow us to set an upper limit of 1.1 eV on the neutrino-mass scale at a 90\% confidence level. This first result, based on a few weeks of running at a reduced source intensity and dominated by statistical uncertainty, improves on prior limits by nearly a factor of two. This result establishes an analysis framework for future KATRIN measurements, and provides important input to both particle theory and cosmology.
We report on the light sterile neutrino search from the first four-week science run of the KATRIN experiment in~2019. Beta-decay electrons from a high-purity gaseous molecular tritium source are ...analyzed by a high-resolution MAC-E filter down to 40 eV below the endpoint at 18.57 keV. We consider the framework with three active neutrinos and one sterile neutrino of mass \(m_{4}\). The analysis is sensitive to a fourth mass state \(m^2_{4} \lesssim\) 1000 eV\(^2\) and to active-to-sterile neutrino mixing down to \(|U_{e4}|^2 \gtrsim 2\cdot10^{-2}\). No significant spectral distortion is observed and exclusion bounds on the sterile mass and mixing are reported. These new limits supersede the Mainz results and improve the Troitsk bound for \(m^2_{4} <\) 30 eV\(^2\). The reactor and gallium anomalies are constrained for \( 100 < \Delta{m}^2_{41} < 1000\) eV\(^2\).
