Exact relativistic beta decay endpoint spectrum

The exact relativistic form for the beta decay endpoint spectrum is derived and presented in a simple factorized form. We show that our exact formula can be well approximated to yield the endpoint form used in the fit method of the KATRIN collaboration. We also discuss the three neutrino case and how information from neutrino oscillation experiments may be useful in analyzing future beta decay endpoint experiments.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Improved treatment of the T2T_2 molecular final-states uncertainties for the KATRIN neutrino-mass measurement

The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment (KATRIN) aims to determine the effective mass of the electron antineutrino via a high-precision measurement of the tritium beta-decay spectrum in its end-point region. The target neutrino-mass sensitivity of 0.2 eV / c^2 at 90% C.L. can only be achieved in the case of high statistics and a good control of the systematic uncertainties. One key systematic effect originates from the calculation of the molecular final states of T_2 beta decay. In the first neutrino-mass analyses of KATRIN the contribution of the uncertainty of the molecular final-states distribution (FSD) was estimated via a conservative phenomenological approach to be 0.02 eV^2 / c^4. In this paper a new procedure is presented for estimating the FSD-related uncertainties by considering the details of the final-states calculation, i.e. the uncertainties of constants, parameters, and functions used in the calculation as well as its convergence itself as a function of the basis-set size used in expanding the molecular wave functions. The calculated uncertainties are directly propagated into the experimental observable, the squared neutrino mass m_nu^2. With the new procedure the FSD-related uncertainty is constrained to 0.0013 eV^2 / c^4, for the experimental conditions of the first KATRIN measurement campaign

Precision high voltage divider for the KATRIN experiment

The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN) aims to determine the absolute mass of the electron antineutrino from a precise measurement of the tritium beta-spectrum near its endpoint at 18.6 keV with a sensitivity of 0.2 eV. KATRIN uses an electrostatic retardation spectrometer of MAC-E filter type for which it is crucial to monitor high voltages of up to 35 kV with a precision and long-term stability at the ppm level. Since devices capable of this precision are not commercially available, a new high voltage divider for direct voltages of up to 35 kV has been designed, following the new concept of the standard divider for direct voltages of up to 100 kV developed at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). The electrical and mechanical design of the divider, the screening procedure for the selection of the precision resistors, and the results of the investigation and calibration at PTB are reported here. During the latter, uncertainties at the low ppm level have been deduced for the new divider, thus qualifying it for the precision measurements of the KATRIN experiment.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figure

Global and regional effects of the photochemistry of CH_3O_2NO_2: evidence from ARCTAS

Using measurements from the NASA Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) experiment, we show that methyl peroxy nitrate (CH_3O_2NO_2) is present in concentrations of ~5–15 pptv in the springtime arctic upper troposphere. We investigate the regional and global effects of CH_3O_2NO_2 by including its chemistry in the GEOS-Chem 3-D global chemical transport model. We find that at temperatures below 240 K inclusion of CH_3O_2NO_2 chemistry results in decreases of up to ~20 % in NO_x, ~20 % in N_2O_5, ~5 % in HNO3, ~2 % in ozone, and increases in methyl hydrogen peroxide of up to ~14 %. Larger changes are observed in biomass burning plumes lofted to high altitude. Additionally, by sequestering NO_x at low temperatures, CH_3O_2NO_2 decreases the cycling of HO_2 to OH, resulting in a larger upper tropospheric HO_2 to OH ratio. These results may impact some estimates of lightning NO_x sources as well as help explain differences between models and measurements of upper tropospheric composition

Ultra-stable implanted 83Rb/83mKr electron sources for the energy scale monitoring in the KATRIN experiment

The KATRIN experiment aims at the direct model-independent determination of the average electron neutrino mass via the measurement of the endpoint region of the tritium beta decay spectrum. The electron spectrometer of the MAC-E filter type is used, requiring very high stability of the electric filtering potential. This work proves the feasibility of implanted 83Rb/83mKr calibration electron sources which will be utilised in the additional monitor spectrometer sharing the high voltage with the main spectrometer of KATRIN. The source employs conversion electrons of 83mKr which is continuously generated by 83Rb. The K-32 conversion line (kinetic energy of 17.8 keV, natural line width of 2.7 eV) is shown to fulfill the KATRIN requirement of the relative energy stability of +/-1.6 ppm/month. The sources will serve as a standard tool for continuous monitoring of KATRIN's energy scale stability with sub-ppm precision. They may also be used in other applications where the precise conversion lines can be separated from the low energy spectrum caused by the electron inelastic scattering in the substrate.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, minor revision of the preprint, accepted by JINST on 5.2.201

β\beta-Decay Spectrum, Response Function and Statistical Model for Neutrino Mass Measurements with the KATRIN Experiment

The objective of the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment is to determine the effective electron neutrino mass $m(\nu_\text{e})$ with an unprecedented sensitivity of $0.2\,\text{eV}$ (90\% C.L.) by precision electron spectroscopy close to the endpoint of the $\beta$ decay of tritium. We present a consistent theoretical description of the $\beta$ electron energy spectrum in the endpoint region, an accurate model of the apparatus response function, and the statistical approaches suited to interpret and analyze tritium $\beta$ decay data observed with KATRIN with the envisaged precision. In addition to providing detailed analytical expressions for all formulae used in the presented model framework with the necessary detail of derivation, we discuss and quantify the impact of theoretical and experimental corrections on the measured $m(\nu_\text{e})$. Finally, we outline the statistical methods for parameter inference and the construction of confidence intervals that are appropriate for a neutrino mass measurement with KATRIN. In this context, we briefly discuss the choice of the $\beta$ energy analysis interval and the distribution of measuring time within that range.Comment: 27 pages, 22 figures, 2 table

Biomass burning and urban air pollution over the Central Mexican Plateau

Observations during the 2006 dry season of highly elevated concentrations of cyanides in the atmosphere above Mexico City (MC) and the surrounding plains demonstrate that biomass burning (BB) significantly impacted air quality in the region. We find that during the period of our measurements, fires contribute more than half of the organic aerosol mass and submicron aerosol scattering, and one third of the enhancement in benzene, reactive nitrogen, and carbon monoxide in the outflow from the plateau. The combination of biomass burning and anthropogenic emissions will affect ozone chemistry in the MC outflow

Global Analysis of Neutrino Data

In this talk I review the present status of neutrino masses and mixing and some of their implications for particle physics phenomenology. I first discuss the minimum extension of the Standard Model of particle physics required to accommodate neutrino masses and introduce the new parameters present in the model and in particular the possibility of leptonic mixing. I then describe the phenomenology of neutrino masses and mixing leading to flavour oscillations and present the existing evidence from solar, reactor, atmospheric and long-baseline neutrinos as well as the results from laboratory searches at short distances. I derive the allowed ranges for the mass and mixing parameters when the bulk of data is consistently analyzed in the framework of mixing between the three active neutrinos and obtain as a result the most up-to-date determination of the leptonic mixing matrix. Then I briefly summarize the status of some proposed phenomenological explanations to accommodate the LSND results: the role of sterile neutrinos and the violation of CPT. Finally I comment how within the present experimental precision it is possible to use the observation of oscillation patterns to impose severe constraints on the possible violation of fundamental symmetries in particle physics such as Lorentz invariance or the weak equivalence principle.Comment: Talk given at the Nobel Symposium on Neutrino Physics, Haga Slott, Enkoping, Swede