Thursday, November 14, 2019, 16:00
OFLG/402
Guido Drexlin, KIT
Abstract:
The international Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment is
targeted to measure the absolute mass scale of neutrinos with a
sensitivity of 0.2 eV (90% CL) in a direct kinematic approach and to
search for physics beyond the Standard Model. In the 70 m long complex
setup at KIT, beta-decay electrons from a high-intensity gaseous
molecular tritium source are guided adiabatically to a series of two
electrostatic spectrometers for energy analysis. This allows to
investigate the energy distribution of electrons close to the 18.6 keV
beta-decay endpoint with unprecedented precision.
The talk will give an overview of the importance of neutrino masses in
particle physics and cosmology and give details of the experimental
setup before reporting on the first neutrino mass result from KATRIN
from data taken in spring of this year. The talk will also give an
outlook on the future perspectives of direct neutrino mass measurements
in the coming years and beyond.