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Title: Detecting non-relativistic cosmic neutrinos by capture on tritium: phenomenology and physics potential

Abstract

We study the physics potential of the detection of the Cosmic Neutrino Background via neutrino capture on tritium, taking the proposed PTOLEMY experiment as a case study. With the projected energy resolution of Δ ∼ 0.15 eV, the experiment will be sensitive to neutrino masses with degenerate spectrum, m{sub 1} ≅ m{sub 2} ≅ m{sub 3} = m{sub ν} ∼> 0.1 eV. These neutrinos are non-relativistic today; detecting them would be a unique opportunity to probe this unexplored kinematical regime. The signature of neutrino capture is a peak in the electron spectrum that is displaced by 2 m{sub ν} above the beta decay endpoint. The signal would exceed the background from beta decay if the energy resolution is Δ ∼< 0.7 m{sub ν} . Interestingly, the total capture rate depends on the origin of the neutrino mass, being Γ{sup D} ≅ 4 and Γ{sup M} ≅ 8 events per year (for a 100 g tritium target) for unclustered Dirac and Majorana neutrinos, respectively. An enhancement of the rate of up to O(1) is expected due to gravitational clustering, with the unique potential to probe the local overdensity of neutrinos. Turning to more exotic neutrino physics, PTOLEMY could be sensitive to a lepton asymmetry, and reveal the eV-scale sterile neutrino that is favored by short baseline oscillation searches. Themore » experiment would also be sensitive to a neutrino lifetime on the order of the age of the universe and break the degeneracy between neutrino mass and lifetime which affects existing bounds.« less

Authors:
; ;  [1]
  1. Physics Department, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22373391
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 2014; Journal Issue: 08; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 1475-7516
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ASYMMETRY; BETA DECAY; CAPTURE; COSMIC NEUTRINOS; ELECTRON SPECTRA; ENERGY RESOLUTION; EV RANGE; LIFETIME; MASS; NEUTRINO DETECTION; ORIGIN; OSCILLATIONS; PEAKS; POTENTIALS; RELATIVISTIC RANGE; SIGNALS; TRITIUM; TRITIUM TARGET; UNIVERSE

Citation Formats

Long, Andrew J., Lunardini, Cecilia, and Sabancilar, Eray. Detecting non-relativistic cosmic neutrinos by capture on tritium: phenomenology and physics potential. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2014/08/038.
Long, Andrew J., Lunardini, Cecilia, & Sabancilar, Eray. Detecting non-relativistic cosmic neutrinos by capture on tritium: phenomenology and physics potential. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2014/08/038
Long, Andrew J., Lunardini, Cecilia, and Sabancilar, Eray. 2014. "Detecting non-relativistic cosmic neutrinos by capture on tritium: phenomenology and physics potential". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2014/08/038.
@article{osti_22373391,
title = {Detecting non-relativistic cosmic neutrinos by capture on tritium: phenomenology and physics potential},
author = {Long, Andrew J. and Lunardini, Cecilia and Sabancilar, Eray},
abstractNote = {We study the physics potential of the detection of the Cosmic Neutrino Background via neutrino capture on tritium, taking the proposed PTOLEMY experiment as a case study. With the projected energy resolution of Δ ∼ 0.15 eV, the experiment will be sensitive to neutrino masses with degenerate spectrum, m{sub 1} ≅ m{sub 2} ≅ m{sub 3} = m{sub ν} ∼> 0.1 eV. These neutrinos are non-relativistic today; detecting them would be a unique opportunity to probe this unexplored kinematical regime. The signature of neutrino capture is a peak in the electron spectrum that is displaced by 2 m{sub ν} above the beta decay endpoint. The signal would exceed the background from beta decay if the energy resolution is Δ ∼< 0.7 m{sub ν} . Interestingly, the total capture rate depends on the origin of the neutrino mass, being Γ{sup D} ≅ 4 and Γ{sup M} ≅ 8 events per year (for a 100 g tritium target) for unclustered Dirac and Majorana neutrinos, respectively. An enhancement of the rate of up to O(1) is expected due to gravitational clustering, with the unique potential to probe the local overdensity of neutrinos. Turning to more exotic neutrino physics, PTOLEMY could be sensitive to a lepton asymmetry, and reveal the eV-scale sterile neutrino that is favored by short baseline oscillation searches. The experiment would also be sensitive to a neutrino lifetime on the order of the age of the universe and break the degeneracy between neutrino mass and lifetime which affects existing bounds.},
doi = {10.1088/1475-7516/2014/08/038},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22373391}, journal = {Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics},
issn = {1475-7516},
number = 08,
volume = 2014,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}