European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields (Aug 2023)

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

  • M. Aker,
  • D. Batzler,
  • A. Beglarian,
  • J. Behrens,
  • A. Berlev,
  • U. Besserer,
  • B. Bieringer,
  • F. Block,
  • S. Bobien,
  • B. Bornschein,
  • L. Bornschein,
  • M. Böttcher,
  • T. Brunst,
  • T. S. Caldwell,
  • S. Chilingaryan,
  • W. Choi,
  • K. Debowski,
  • M. Descher,
  • D. Díaz Barrero,
  • P. J. Doe,
  • O. Dragoun,
  • G. Drexlin,
  • F. Edzards,
  • K. Eitel,
  • E. Ellinger,
  • R. Engel,
  • S. Enomoto,
  • A. Felden,
  • J. A. Formaggio,
  • F. M. Fränkle,
  • G. B. Franklin,
  • F. Friedel,
  • A. Fulst,
  • K. Gauda,
  • A. S. Gavin,
  • W. Gil,
  • F. Glück,
  • R. Grössle,
  • R. Gumbsheimer,
  • V. Hannen,
  • N. Haußmann,
  • K. Helbing,
  • S. Hickford,
  • R. Hiller,
  • D. Hillesheimer,
  • D. Hinz,
  • T. Höhn,
  • T. Houdy,
  • A. Huber,
  • A. Jansen,
  • C. Karl,
  • J. Kellerer,
  • M. Kleifges,
  • M. Klein,
  • C. Köhler,
  • L. Köllenberger,
  • A. Kopmann,
  • M. Korzeczek,
  • A. Kovalík,
  • B. Krasch,
  • H. Krause,
  • L. La Cascio,
  • T. Lasserre,
  • T. L. Le,
  • O. Lebeda,
  • B. Lehnert,
  • A. Lokhov,
  • M. Machatschek,
  • E. Malcherek,
  • M. Mark,
  • A. Marsteller,
  • E. L. Martin,
  • C. Melzer,
  • S. Mertens,
  • J. Mostafa,
  • K. Müller,
  • H. Neumann,
  • S. Niemes,
  • P. Oelpmann,
  • D. S. Parno,
  • A. W. P. Poon,
  • J. M. L. Poyato,
  • F. Priester,
  • J. Ráliš,
  • S. Ramachandran,
  • R. G. H. Robertson,
  • W. Rodejohann,
  • C. Rodenbeck,
  • M. Röllig,
  • C. Röttele,
  • M. Ryšavý,
  • R. Sack,
  • A. Saenz,
  • R. Salomon,
  • P. Schäfer,
  • L. Schimpf,
  • M. Schlösser,
  • K. Schlösser,
  • L. Schlüter,
  • S. Schneidewind,
  • M. Schrank,
  • A. Schwemmer,
  • M. Šefǧík,
  • V. Sibille,
  • D. Siegmann,
  • M. Slezák,
  • F. Spanier,
  • M. Steidl,
  • M. Sturm,
  • H. H. Telle,
  • L. A. Thorne,
  • T. Thümmler,
  • N. Titov,
  • I. Tkachev,
  • K. Urban,
  • K. Valerius,
  • D. Vénos,
  • A. P. Vizcaya Hernández,
  • C. Weinheimer,
  • S. Welte,
  • J. Wendel,
  • M. Wetter,
  • C. Wiesinger,
  • J. F. Wilkerson,
  • J. Wolf,
  • S. Wüstling,
  • J. Wydra,
  • W. Xu,
  • S. Zadoroghny,
  • G. Zeller

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11818-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 83, no. 8
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Abstract 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 $$\upbeta $$ β -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 $$1.6\, \textrm{keV}$$ 1.6 keV . We do not find a signal and set an exclusion limit on the sterile-to-active mixing amplitude of $$\sin ^2\theta < 5\times 10^{-4}$$ sin 2 θ < 5 × 10 - 4 ( $$95\%$$ 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.