NPA Seminar, Taila Weiss, Yale, “Neutrino Mass Limit from Cyclotron Radiation Spectroscopy”

The neutrino mass scale plays a crucial role in both particle physics and cosmology, yet this scale is unknown. The neutrino masses distort the tritium beta-decay spectrum due to energy conservation. By measuring the tritium spectrum, KATRIN has placed the most precise model-independent limit on the neutrino mass scale, to date (mβ<0.8 eV). Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES), a technique pioneered by Project 8, has the potential to advance beyond KATRIN’s design sensitivity. CRES relates a charged particle’s energy to the detected frequency of cyclotron radiation emitted as the particle spirals in a magnetic field.
In this talk, I will describe Project 8’s recent analysis to obtain the first neutrino mass limit with CRES. We measure mβ<155 eV (90% credibility) with a cm3-scale detection volume. No background events were observed in a wide signal-free region, establishing CRES as a low-background technique. I will also discuss how we characterized CRES systematics using Kr-83m data and simulations. These results demonstrate the promise of CRES for a next-generation neutrino mass experiment. At the end of the talk, I will preview Project 8’s next steps to improve neutrino mass sensitivity, as well as prospects for learning about sterile neutrinos and cosmology.
Host: Fernando Flor (fernando.flor@yale.edu)