The Project 8 experiment aims to measure the neutrino mass using tritium beta decays. Beta-decay electron energies will be measured with a novel technique: as the electrons travel in a uniform magnetic field their cyclotron radiation will be detected. The frequency of each electron's cyclotron radiation is inversely proportional to its total relativistic energy; therefore, by observing the cyclotron radiation we can make a precise measurement of the electron energies. The advantages of this technique include scalability, excellent energy resolution, and low backgrounds. The collaboration is using a prototype experiment to study the feasibility of the technique with a 83mKr source. Demonstrating the ability to see the 17.8 keV and 30.2 keV conversion electrons from 83mKr will show that it may be possible to measure tritium beta-decay electron energies (Q≈18.6 keV) with their cyclotron radiation. Progress on the prototype, analysis and signal-extraction techniques, and an estimate of the potential future of the experiment will be discussed.
@article{arxiv.1310.0397,
title = {Project 8: Using Radio-Frequency Techniques to Measure Neutrino Mass},
author = {N. S. Oblath},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.0397},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
7 pages, 3 figures; Presentation at the DPF 2013 Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Particles and Fields, Santa Cruz, California, August 13-17, 2013