Search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos with the first KATRIN data

0577587 - ÚJF 2024 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Aker, M. - Batzler, D. - Beglarian, A. - Behrens, J. - Dragoun, Otokar - Kovalík, Alojz - Lebeda, Ondřej - Ráliš, Jan - Ryšavý, Miloš - Šefčík, Michal - Vénos, Drahoslav … Total 130 authors
Search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos with the first KATRIN data.
European Physical Journal C. Roč. 83, č. 8 (2023), č. článku 763. ISSN 1434-6044. E-ISSN 1434-6052
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LTT19005
Institutional support: RVO:61389005
Keywords : KATRIN experiment * sterile neutrino * keV-scale
OECD category: Particles and field physics
Impact factor: 4.4, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11818-y

In this work we present a keV-scale sterile-neutrino search with a low-tritium-activity data set of the KATRIN experiment, acquired in a commissioning run in 2018. KATRIN performs a spectroscopic measurement of the tritium beta-decay spectrum with the main goal of directly determining the effective electron anti-neutrino mass. During this commissioning phase a lower tritium activity facilitated the measurement of a wider part of the tritium spectrum and thus the search for sterile neutrinos with a mass of up to 1.6 keV. We do not find a signal and set an exclusion limit on the sterile-to-active mixing amplitude of sin(2) theta < 5 x 10(-4) (95% C.L.) at a mass of 0.3 keV. This result improves current laboratory-based bounds in the sterile-neutrino mass range between 0.1 and 1.0 keV.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0346716