Monitoring of the operating parameters of the KATRIN Windowless Gaseous Tritium Source

Abstract

The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment will measure the absolute mass scale of neutrinos with a sensitivity of $\m_ν$ = 200 meV/c${}^2$ by high-precision spectroscopy close to the tritium beta-decay endpoint at 18.6 keV. Its Windowless Gaseous Tritium Source (WGTS) is a beta-decay source of high intensity ($10^{11}$/s) and stability, where high-purity molecular tritium at 30 K is circulated in a closed loop with a yearly throughput of 10 kg. To limit systematic effects the column density of the source has to be stabilised at the 0.1% level. This requires extensive sensor instrumentation and dedicated control and monitoring systems for parameters such as the beam tube temperature, injection pressure, gas composition and others. Here we give an overview of these systems including a dedicated Laser-Raman system as well as several beta-decay activity monitors. We also report on results of the WGTS demonstrator and other large-scale test experiments giving proof-of-principle that all parameters relevant to the systematics can be controlled and monitored on the 0.1% level or better. As a result of these works, the WGTS systematics can be controlled within stringent margins, enabling the KATRIN experiment to explore the neutrino mass scale with the design sensitivity.

arXiv comment32 pages, 13 figures. modification to title, typos corrected

References in corpus (6)

• Final Results from phase II of the Mainz Neutrino Mass Search in Tritium $\beta$ Decay
• Neutrino mass limit from tritium beta decay
• A broad-Band FT-ICR Penning TRap System for KATRIN
• Measurement of the gas-flow reduction factor of the KATRIN DPS2-F differential pumping section
• Prototype of an angular-selective photoelectron calibration source for the KATRIN experiment
• Accuracy of the Laser Raman system for KATRIN

Cited by in corpus (24)

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• Sensitivity of Next-Generation Tritium Beta-Decay Experiments for keV-Scale Sterile Neutrinos
• The Design, Construction, and Commissioning of the KATRIN Experiment
• Analysis methods for the first KATRIN neutrino-mass measurement
• KATRIN: Status and Prospects for the Neutrino Mass and Beyond
• First operation of the KATRIN experiment with tritium
• Wavelet Approach to Search for Sterile Neutrinos in Tritium $\beta$-Decay Spectra
• First transmission of electrons and ions through the KATRIN beamline
• A pulsed, mono-energetic and angular-selective UV photo-electron source for the commissioning of the KATRIN experiment
• Direct Neutrino Mass Experiments
• Neutral tritium gas reduction in the KATRIN differential pumping sections
• Neutrino mass sensitivity by MAC-E-Filter based time-of-flight spectroscopy with the example of KATRIN
• Neutrino Masses
• Modelling of gas dynamical properties of the KATRIN tritium source and implications for the neutrino mass measurement
• Gamma-induced background in the KATRIN main spectrometer
• Constraints on the Active and Sterile Neutrino Masses from Beta-Ray Spectra: Past, Present and Future
• keV-Scale Sterile Neutrino Sensitivity Estimation with Time-Of-Flight Spectroscopy in KATRIN using Self-Consistent Approximate Monte Carlo
• Statistical sensitivity on right-handed currents in presence of eV scale sterile neutrinos with KATRIN
• Forward Beam Monitor for the KATRIN experiment
• Reduction of stored-particle background by a magnetic pulse method at the KATRIN experiment
• Deconvolution of the energy loss function of the KATRIN experiment
• Electromagnetic design of the KATRIN large-volume air coil system
• Time dependent simulation of the flow reduction of D${}_2$ and T${}_2$ in the KATRIN experiment