Speakers
Mr
Benjamin LaRoque
(UC Santa Barbara)Dr
Brent VanDevender
(Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)Dr
Noah Oblath
(MIT)
Description
The Project 8 experiment aims to measure the neutrino mass using tritium beta decays. Beta-decay electron energies will be measured using the beta-decay electrons' cyclotron radiation: as the electrons travel in a uniform magnetic field, the frequency of the cyclotron radiation is inversely proportional to their total relativistic energies. By observing the cyclotron radiation we can make a precise measurement of the electron energies. The advantages of this technique include scalability, excellent energy resolution, and low backgrounds. The Project 8 Collaboration is using a prototype experiment to study the feasibility of the technique with a $^{83m}$Kr source. Demonstrating the ability to see the 17.8~keV and 30.2~keV conversion electrons from $^{83m}$Kr will show that it is possible to measure tritium beta-decay electron energies ($Q \approx 18.6$~keV) with their cyclotron radiation. This poster highlights the progress on the prototype device, the signal-extraction techniques under investigation, and future plans for the experiment. This research is supported in part by DOE grant DE-FG02-97ER41020, the National Science Foundation, and the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Primary authors
Mr
Benjamin LaRoque
(UC Santa Barbara)
Dr
Brent VanDevender
(Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Dr
Noah Oblath
(MIT)