0000000000302524
AUTHOR
A. Osipowicz
Calibration of high voltages at the ppm level by the difference of $$^{83{\mathrm{m}}}$$ 83m Kr conversion electron lines at the KATRIN experiment
The neutrino mass experiment KATRIN requires a stability of 3 ppm for the retarding potential at − 18.6 kV of the main spectrometer. To monitor the stability, two custom-made ultra-precise high-voltage dividers were developed and built in cooperation with the German national metrology institute Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). Until now, regular absolute calibration of the voltage dividers required bringing the equipment to the specialised metrology laboratory. Here we present a new method based on measuring the energy difference of two $$^{83{\mathrm{m}}}$$ 83m Kr conversion electron lines with the KATRIN setup, which was demonstrated during KATRIN’s commissioning measurements …
Commissioning of the vacuum system of the KATRIN Main Spectrometer
The KATRIN experiment will probe the neutrino mass by measuring the β-electron energy spectrum near the endpoint of tritium β-decay. An integral energy analysis will be performed by an electro-static spectrometer (``Main Spectrometer''), an ultra-high vacuum vessel with a length of 23.2 m, a volume of 1240 m[superscript 3], and a complex inner electrode system with about 120 000 individual parts. The strong magnetic field that guides the β-electrons is provided by super-conducting solenoids at both ends of the spectrometer. Its influence on turbo-molecular pumps and vacuum gauges had to be considered. A system consisting of 6 turbo-molecular pumps and 3 km of non-evaporable getter strips ha…
First operation of the KATRIN experiment with tritium
AbstractThe determination of the neutrino mass is one of the major challenges in astroparticle physics today. Direct neutrino mass experiments, based solely on the kinematics of $$\upbeta $$β-decay, provide a largely model-independent probe to the neutrino mass scale. The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment is designed to directly measure the effective electron antineutrino mass with a sensitivity of $$0.2\hbox { eV}$$0.2eV ($$90\%$$90% CL). In this work we report on the first operation of KATRIN with tritium which took place in 2018. During this commissioning phase of the tritium circulation system, excellent agreement of the theoretical prediction with the recorded spectra was …
Intense source of slow positrons from pulsed electron accelerators
A pulsed LINAC is used for pair production in a tantalum target of 2.5 radiation lengths in an energy range from 80 to 260 MeV. Several well-annealed tungsten vanes are placed immediately behind the target and thermalize a small fraction of the fast positrons. The slow positrons are extracted from the target region and magnetically guided over a distance of 17 m to the detector at the end of an S-shaped solenoid. Two Nal detectors with well-known detection efficiency are used to register the 511 keV annihilationγ-rays. To reduce pile-up effects 50 mm of Pb were placed in front of the detectors. At an average electron current of 1 μA we could detect about 107 slow positrons per second. The p…
Reduction of stored-particle background by a magnetic pulse method at the KATRIN experiment
Arenz, M., et al. “Reduction of Stored-Particle Background by a Magnetic Pulse Method at the KATRIN Experiment.” The European Physical Journal C, vol. 78, no. 9, Sept. 2018. © 2018 The Authors
Suppression of Penning discharges between the KATRIN spectrometers
The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment (KATRIN) aims to determine the effective electron (anti)neutrino mass with a sensitivity of $0.2\textrm{ eV/c}^2$ (90$\%$ C.L.) by precisely measuring the endpoint region of the tritium $\beta$-decay spectrum. It uses a tandem of electrostatic spectrometers working as MAC-E (magnetic adiabatic collimation combined with an electrostatic) filters. In the space between the pre-spectrometer and the main spectrometer, an unavoidable Penning trap is created when the superconducting magnet between the two spectrometers, biased at their respective nominal potentials, is energized. The electrons accumulated in this trap can lead to discharges, which create a…
Improved Upper Limit on the Neutrino Mass from a Direct Kinematic Method by KATRIN
We report on the neutrino mass measurement result from the first four-week science run of the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino experiment KATRIN in spring 2019. Beta-decay electrons from a high-purity gaseous molecular tritium source are energy analyzed by a high-resolution MAC-E filter. A fit of the integrated electron spectrum over a narrow interval around the kinematic end point at 18.57 keV gives an effective neutrino mass square value of (−1.0−1.1+0.9) eV2. From this, we derive an upper limit of 1.1 eV (90% confidence level) on the absolute mass scale of neutrinos. This value coincides with the KATRIN sensitivity. It improves upon previous mass limits from kinematic measurements by almost a …
Penning discharge in the KATRIN pre-spectrometer
The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment is a next-generation, large-scale tritium β-decay experiment to determine the neutrino mass by investigating the kinematics of tritium β-decay with a sensitivity of 200 meV/c2 using the MAC-E filter technique. In order to reach this sensitivity a low background level of 10−2 counts per second (cps) is required. A major background concern in MAC-E filters is the presence of Penning traps. A Penning trap is a special configuration of electromagnetic fields that allows the storage of electrically charged particles. This paper describes the mechanism of Penning discharges and the corresponding measurements performed at the test setup of the KAT…
First transmission of electrons and ions through the KATRIN beamline
The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment is a large-scale effort to probe the absolute neutrino mass scale with a sensitivity of 0.2 eV (90% confidence level), via a precise measurement of the endpoint spectrum of tritium β-decay. This work documents several KATRIN commissioning milestones: the complete assembly of the experimental beamline, the successful transmission of electrons from three sources through the beamline to the primary detector, and tests of ion transport and retention. In the First Light commissioning campaign of autumn 2016, photoelectrons were generated at the rear wall and ions were created by a dedicated ion source attached to the rear section; in July 2017, …
A new upper limit of the electron anti neutrino rest mass from tritium β-decay
Abstract A new upper limit of the electron anti neutrino rest mass has been deduced from the tritium β-decay spectrum. A source of molecular tritium has been investigated with a new solenoid retarding spectrometer. The results are m ν ϵ 2 = −38.8 ± 34.1 stat ± 15.1 syst (eV) 2 /c 4 from which we conclude m ν ϵ ≤ 7.2 eV/c 2 with 95% c.l. Our β-endpoint corresponds to a 3H-3He atomic mass difference of Δm( 3 H- 3 He) = 18590.8 ± 3 eV/c 2 (1σ) .
Calibration of high voltages at the ppm level by the difference of $^{83\mathrm{m}}$Kr conversion electron lines at the KATRIN experiment
The neutrino mass experiment KATRIN requires a stability of 3 ppm for the retarding potential at − 18.6 kV of the main spectrometer. To monitor the stability, two custom-made ultra-precise high-voltage dividers were developed and built in cooperation with the German national metrology institute Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). Until now, regular absolute calibration of the voltage dividers required bringing the equipment to the specialised metrology laboratory. Here we present a new method based on measuring the energy difference of two [superscript 83m]Kr conversion electron lines with the KATRIN setup, which was demonstrated during KATRIN’s commissioning measurements in July 2…
Gamma-induced background in the KATRIN main spectrometer
The KATRIN experiment aims to measure the effective electron antineutrino mass $$m_{\overline{\nu }_e}$$ mν¯e with a sensitivity of $${0.2}\,{\hbox {eV}/\hbox {c}^2}$$ 0.2eV/c2 using a gaseous tritium source combined with the MAC-E filter technique. A low background rate is crucial to achieving the proposed sensitivity, and dedicated measurements have been performed to study possible sources of background electrons. In this work, we test the hypothesis that gamma radiation from external radioactive sources significantly increases the rate of background events created in the main spectrometer (MS) and observed in the focal-plane detector. Using detailed simulations of the gamma flux in the e…
Improved limit on the electron-antineutrino rest mass from tritium ß-decay
Abstract The endpoint region of the β-spectrum of tritium was remeasured by an electrostatic spectrometer with magnetic guiding field. It enabled the search for a rest mass of the electron-antineutrino with improved precision. The result is m2v=−39±34stat±15syst(eV/c2)2, from which an upper limit of mv m( T )−m( 3 He )=18 591±3 eV /c 2 .
Precision measurement of the conversion electron spectrum of 83mKr with a solenoid retarding spectrometer
This paper reports on precision measurements of conversion lines in the decay of 83mKr with nuclear transition energies of 32.1 keV and 9.4 keV, respectively. The spectra were taken from a submonolayer surface of 83mKr frozen onto a cold backing, using the new Mainz solenoid retarding spectrometer. The high luminosity and resolution of this instrument enables the observation of all allowed conversion lines up to the N-shell and to fully separate the elastic component from inelastic satellites. The combined analysis of the data yields the transition energies Ey=32151.5±1.1 eV and 9405.9±0.8 eV, respectively. The experiment served also to pilot the application of this spectrometer to the ques…
High-resolution spectroscopy of gaseous $^\mathrm{83m}$Kr conversion electrons with the KATRIN experiment
In this work, we present the first spectroscopic measurements of conversion electrons originating from the decay of metastable gaseous $^\mathrm{83m}$Kr with the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment. The results obtained in this calibration measurement represent a major commissioning milestone for the upcoming direct neutrino mass measurement with KATRIN. The successful campaign demonstrates the functionalities of the full KATRIN beamline. The KATRIN main spectrometer's excellent energy resolution of ~ 1 eV made it possible to determine the narrow K-32 and L$_3$-32 conversion electron line widths with an unprecedented precision of ~ 1 %.
A solenoid retarding spectrometer with high resolution and transmission for keV electrons
Abstract We have built an electrostatic electron spectrometer combining both high resolution and large luminosity. The instrument consists essentially of two superconducting solenoids separated by a system of ring electrodes of 4 m in length. Source and detector are placed in the high-field regions of the superconducting solenoids, whereas the repellent analyzing electrostatic potential of the ring electrodes peaks at the minimum of the magnetic field in between these solenoids. The magnetic guiding field provides (i) the acceptance of the full foreward solid angle of 2π, (ii) the transformation of the transverse cyclotron motion into longitudinal motion parallel to the magnetic field. The …