Relativistic cyclotron radiation detection of tritium decay electrons as a new technique for measuring the neutrino mass
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, thus placing an upper limit of mνβ<2.3 eV. Here, we show that a new type of electron...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Physical Society
2010
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/51365 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3757-9883 |
| _version_ | 1811085382193774592 |
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| author | Monreal, Benjamin, 1977- Formaggio, Joseph A |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Monreal, Benjamin, 1977- Formaggio, Joseph A |
| author_sort | Monreal, Benjamin, 1977- |
| collection | MIT |
| description | 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, thus placing an upper limit of mνβ<2.3 eV. 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. We present calculations for the energy resolution, noise limits, high-rate measurement capability, and systematic errors expected in such an experiment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:08:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/51365 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:08:42Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/513652023-02-26T05:52:19Z Relativistic cyclotron radiation detection of tritium decay electrons as a new technique for measuring the neutrino mass Monreal, Benjamin, 1977- Formaggio, Joseph A Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science Formaggio, Joseph A. Formaggio, Joseph A. 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, thus placing an upper limit of mνβ<2.3 eV. 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. We present calculations for the energy resolution, noise limits, high-rate measurement capability, and systematic errors expected in such an experiment. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Physics 2010-02-05T14:36:55Z 2010-02-05T14:36:55Z 2009-09 2009-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1550-2368 1550-7998 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/51365 Monreal, Benjamin , and Joseph A. Formaggio. “Relativistic cyclotron radiation detection of tritium decay electrons as a new technique for measuring the neutrino mass.” Physical Review D 80.5 (2009): 051301. (C) 2010 The American Physical Society. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3757-9883 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.80.051301 Physical Review D Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Physical Society APS |
| spellingShingle | Monreal, Benjamin, 1977- Formaggio, Joseph A Relativistic cyclotron radiation detection of tritium decay electrons as a new technique for measuring the neutrino mass |
| title | Relativistic cyclotron radiation detection of tritium decay electrons as a new technique for measuring the neutrino mass |
| title_full | Relativistic cyclotron radiation detection of tritium decay electrons as a new technique for measuring the neutrino mass |
| title_fullStr | Relativistic cyclotron radiation detection of tritium decay electrons as a new technique for measuring the neutrino mass |
| title_full_unstemmed | Relativistic cyclotron radiation detection of tritium decay electrons as a new technique for measuring the neutrino mass |
| title_short | Relativistic cyclotron radiation detection of tritium decay electrons as a new technique for measuring the neutrino mass |
| title_sort | relativistic cyclotron radiation detection of tritium decay electrons as a new technique for measuring the neutrino mass |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/51365 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3757-9883 |
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