Collaborative Research: Direct Neutrino Mass Measurement with Cryogenic Microcalorimeters

各种实验对中微子振荡的观测为中微子质量不为零提供了明确的证据。然而，振荡测量的性质只对质量差的平方敏感，不能提供中微子味道的绝对质量信息。有一个关于氚β衰变的新实验，KATRIN，正在建设中，目标是200 meV的灵敏度。 KATRIN可能正在接近一个基本极限，而这个使用微量热计测量187 Re的β端点的实验避免了这些问题。有一个意大利的实验，以一种独立于模型的方式测量β衰变的中微子质量。这个实验将是对KATRIN的补充，它将提供一个独立的数字。这项提案的更广泛影响是美国学生和教师有机会参与未来和开创性的实验，成为这一发展的一部分，这也可能成为未来更大实验的技术基础。

The observations of neutrino oscillations by various experiments have provided definite evidence of a non-zero neutrino mass. The nature of the oscillation measurements however is only sensitive to the square of the mass differences and does not provide information on the absolute mass of the neutrino flavors. There is a new experiment on tritium beta decay, KATRIN which is under construction and aims at a sensitivity of 200 meV. KATRIN may be approaching a fundamental limit and this experiment using a microcalorimeter to measure the beta endpoint of 187Re avoids some of thos issues. There is an Italian experiment developed to measure the neutrino mass from beta decay in a model independent fashion. This experiment will be complementary to KATRIN and it will provide a independent number. The Broader Impact of this proposal is the opportunity for US students and faculty to become involved in a futuristic and ground breaking experiment by being a part of this development which may also become the technology basis for future larger experiments.