Most stringent bound on electron neutrino mass obtained with a scalable low temperature microcalorimeter array
Abstract
The determination of the absolute neutrino mass scale remains a fundamental open question in particle physics, with profound implications for both the Standard Model and cosmology. Direct kinematic measurements, independent of model-dependent assumptions, provide the most robust approach to address this challenge. In this Letter, we present the most stringent upper bound on the effective electron neutrino mass ever obtained with a calorimetric measurement of the electron capture decay of Ho. The HOLMES experiment employs an array of ion-implanted transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters, achieving an average energy resolution of 6 eV FWHM with a scalable, multiplexed readout technique. With a total of decay events recorded over two months and a Bayesian statistical analysis, we derive an upper limit of eV/c at 90% credibility. These results validate the feasibility of Ho calorimetry for next-generation neutrino mass experiments and demonstrate the potential of a scalable TES-based microcalorimetric technique to push the sensitivity of direct neutrino mass measurements beyond the current state of the art.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2503.19920,
title = {Most stringent bound on electron neutrino mass obtained with a scalable low temperature microcalorimeter array},
author = {B. K. Alpert and M. Balata and D. T. Becker and D. A. Bennett and M. Borghesi and P. Campana and R. Carobene and M. De Gerone and W. B. Doriese and M. Faverzani and L. Ferrari Barusso and E. Ferri and J. W. Fowler and G. Gallucci and S. Gamba and J. D. Gard and F. Gatti and A. Giachero and M. Gobbo and U. Köster and D. Labranca and M. Lusignoli and P. Manfrinetti and J. A. B. Mates and E. Maugeri and R. Moretti and S. Nisi and A. Nucciotti and G. C. O'Neil and L. Origo and G. Pessina and S. Ragazzi and C. D. Reintsema and D. R. Schmidt and D. Schumann and D. S. Swetz and Z. Talip and J. N. Ullom and L. R. Vale},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.19920},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
12 pages, 7 figures. Published on PRL