Precision measurement of the electron energy-loss function in tritium and deuterium gas for the KATRIN experiment
Abstract 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 $$\upbeta $$...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
2021
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/136902 |
| _version_ | 1826192371603210240 |
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| author | Aker, M. Beglarian, A. Behrens, J. Berlev, A. Besserer, U. Bieringer, B. Block, F. Bornschein, B. Bornschein, L. Böttcher, M. Brunst, T. Caldwell, T. S. Carney, R. M. D. Chilingaryan, S. Choi, W. Debowski, K. Deffert, M. Descher, M. Barrero, D. D. Doe, P. J. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science Aker, M. Beglarian, A. Behrens, J. Berlev, A. Besserer, U. Bieringer, B. Block, F. Bornschein, B. Bornschein, L. Böttcher, M. Brunst, T. Caldwell, T. S. Carney, R. M. D. Chilingaryan, S. Choi, W. Debowski, K. Deffert, M. Descher, M. Barrero, D. D. Doe, P. J. |
| author_sort | Aker, M. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Abstract
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
$$\upbeta $$
β
-decay endpoint region with a sensitivity on
$$m_\nu $$
m
ν
of 0.2
$$\hbox {eV}/\hbox {c}^2$$
eV
/
c
2
(90% CL). For this purpose, the
$$\upbeta $$
β
-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
$$\upbeta $$
β
-electrons from elastic and inelastic scattering off tritium molecules within the source. We determined the 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%
$$\hbox {T}_2$$
T
2
gas mixture at 30 K, as used in the first KATRIN neutrino-mass analyses, as well as a
$$\hbox {D}_2$$
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
$$\sigma (m_\nu ^2)< {{10}^{-2}}{\hbox {eV}^{2}}$$
σ
(
m
ν
2
)
<
10
-
2
eV
2
[1] in the KATRIN neutrino-mass measurement to a subdominant level. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:11:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/136902 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:11:00Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1369022023-09-01T19:26:49Z Precision measurement of the electron energy-loss function in tritium and deuterium gas for the KATRIN experiment Aker, M. Beglarian, A. Behrens, J. Berlev, A. Besserer, U. Bieringer, B. Block, F. Bornschein, B. Bornschein, L. Böttcher, M. Brunst, T. Caldwell, T. S. Carney, R. M. D. Chilingaryan, S. Choi, W. Debowski, K. Deffert, M. Descher, M. Barrero, D. D. Doe, P. J. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Abstract 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 $$\upbeta $$ β -decay endpoint region with a sensitivity on $$m_\nu $$ m ν of 0.2 $$\hbox {eV}/\hbox {c}^2$$ eV / c 2 (90% CL). For this purpose, the $$\upbeta $$ β -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 $$\upbeta $$ β -electrons from elastic and inelastic scattering off tritium molecules within the source. We determined the 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% $$\hbox {T}_2$$ T 2 gas mixture at 30 K, as used in the first KATRIN neutrino-mass analyses, as well as a $$\hbox {D}_2$$ 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 $$\sigma (m_\nu ^2)< {{10}^{-2}}{\hbox {eV}^{2}}$$ σ ( m ν 2 ) < 10 - 2 eV 2 [1] in the KATRIN neutrino-mass measurement to a subdominant level. 2021-11-01T14:34:05Z 2021-11-01T14:34:05Z 2021-07-05 2021-07-11T03:17:46Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/136902 The European Physical Journal C. 2021 Jul 05;81(7):579 PUBLISHER_CC en https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09325-z Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Author(s) application/pdf Springer Berlin Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
| spellingShingle | Aker, M. Beglarian, A. Behrens, J. Berlev, A. Besserer, U. Bieringer, B. Block, F. Bornschein, B. Bornschein, L. Böttcher, M. Brunst, T. Caldwell, T. S. Carney, R. M. D. Chilingaryan, S. Choi, W. Debowski, K. Deffert, M. Descher, M. Barrero, D. D. Doe, P. J. Precision measurement of the electron energy-loss function in tritium and deuterium gas for the KATRIN experiment |
| title | Precision measurement of the electron energy-loss function in tritium and deuterium gas for the KATRIN experiment |
| title_full | Precision measurement of the electron energy-loss function in tritium and deuterium gas for the KATRIN experiment |
| title_fullStr | Precision measurement of the electron energy-loss function in tritium and deuterium gas for the KATRIN experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Precision measurement of the electron energy-loss function in tritium and deuterium gas for the KATRIN experiment |
| title_short | Precision measurement of the electron energy-loss function in tritium and deuterium gas for the KATRIN experiment |
| title_sort | precision measurement of the electron energy loss function in tritium and deuterium gas for the katrin experiment |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/136902 |
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