Project 8 - A Tritium Endpoint Experiment to Measure Neutrino Mass
ORAL · Invited
Abstract
The Project 8 Collaboration is developing the next-generation experiment to measure the mass of the electron antineutrino by the tritium endpoint method. To improve in sensitivity beyond the impending KATRIN experiment, Project 8 must address serious scaling issues to accommodate a sufficiently intense tritium source for statistical sensitivity, while also addressing systematic limitations of molecular tritium sources. The method of Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) introduces a more favorable scaling relation between the tritium source volume, density, and statistical sensitivity. We also address the technical challenges of the required {\em atomic} tritium source, which evades systematic issues associated with the molecular dynamics of tritium's more natural dimer state. Progress on both fronts, as well as plans for the future are presented.
*This work is supported by: the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics; The National Science Foundation; the MIT Wade Fellowship; The UW Royalty Research Foundation; and the PNNL LDRD program
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