709 research outputs found
Statistical sensitivity of 163-Ho electron capture neutrino mass experiments
Large calorimetric neutrino mass experiments using thermal detectors are
possibly going to play a crucial role in the challenge for assessing the
neutrino mass. This paper describe a tool based on Monte Carlo methods which
has been developed to estimate the statistical sensitivity of calorimetric
neutrino mass experiments using the 163-Ho electron capture decay. The tool is
applied to investigate the effect of various experimental parameters and the
results useful for designing an experiment with sub-eV sensitivity are given.Comment: Accepted for publication in EPJ-
Expectations for a new calorimetric neutrino mass experiment
A large calorimetric neutrino mass experiment using thermal detectors is
expected to play a crucial role in the challenge for directly assessing the
neutrino mass. We discuss and compare here two approaches to the estimation of
the experimental sensitivity of such an experiment. The first method uses an
analytic formulation and allows to readily obtain a sensible estimate over a
wide range of experimental configurations. The second method is based on a
frequentist Montecarlo technique and is more precise and reliable. The
Montecarlo approach is then exploited to study the main sources of systematic
uncertainties peculiar to calorimetric experiments. Finally, the tools are
applied to investigate the optimal experimental configuration for a
calorimetric experiment with Rhenium based thermal detectors.Comment: 25 pagers, 16 figure
The MARE Project
The international project "Microcalorimeter Arrays for a Rhenium Experiment" (MARE) aims at a direct and calorimetric measurement of the electron antineutrino mass with sub-electronvolt sensitivity. MARE is divided in two phases. The first phase consists of two independent experiments using the presently available detector technology to reach a sensitivity of the order of 1 eV and to improve the understanding of the systematic uncertainties peculiar of this technique. In parallel to these experiments, a wide R&D program will single out the appropriate detector configuration, the read-out scheme and the large array technology for the second phase of MARE. In the second phase, the selected techniques will be applied to the realization of large arrays with as many as 10000 detectors each. At least five arrays will be then deployed to collect the statistics required to probe the antineutrino mass with a sensitivity of at least 0.2 eV, comparable to the one expected for the Katrin experiment (KATRIN Design Report, 2004)
Investigation of peak shapes in the MIBETA experiment calibrations
In calorimetric neutrino mass experiments, where the shape of a beta decay
spectrum has to be precisely measured, the understanding of the detector
response function is a fundamental issue. In the MIBETA neutrino mass
experiment, the X-ray lines measured with external sources did not have
Gaussian shapes, but exhibited a pronounced shoulder towards lower energies. If
this shoulder were a general feature of the detector response function, it
would distort the beta decay spectrum and thus mimic a non-zero neutrino mass.
An investigation was performed to understand the origin of the shoulder and its
potential influence on the beta spectrum. First, the peaks were fitted with an
analytic function in order to determine quantitatively the amount of events
contributing to the shoulder, also depending on the energy of the calibration
X-rays. In a second step, Montecarlo simulations were performed to reproduce
the experimental spectrum and to understand the origin of its shape. We
conclude that at least part of the observed shoulder can be attributed to a
surface effect
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