Assessment of molecular effects on neutrino mass measurements from tritium beta decay

Abstract

The beta decay of molecular tritium currently provides the highest sensitivity in laboratory-based neutrino mass measurements. The upcoming Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment will improve the sensitivity to 0.2 eV, making a percent-level quantitative understanding of molecular effects essential. The modern theoretical calculations available for neutrino-mass experiments agree with spectroscopic data. Moreover, when neutrino-mass experiments performed in the 1980s with gaseous tritium are re-evaluated using these modern calculations, the extracted neutrino mass-squared values are consistent with zero instead of being significantly negative. On the other hand, the calculated molecular final-state branching ratios are in tension with dissociation experiments performed in the 1950s. We re-examine the theory of the final-state spectrum of molecular tritium decay and its effect on the determination of the neutrino mass, with an emphasis on the role of the vibrational- and rotational-state distribution in the ground electronic state. General features can be reproduced quantitatively from considerations of kinematics and zero-point motion. We summarize the status of validation efforts and suggest means for resolving the apparent discrepancy in dissociation rates.

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• Analysis methods for the first KATRIN neutrino-mass measurement
• Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in the PTOLEMY project: a theory update
• $\beta$-Decay Spectrum, Response Function and Statistical Model for Neutrino Mass Measurements with the KATRIN Experiment
• KATRIN: Status and Prospects for the Neutrino Mass and Beyond
• First operation of the KATRIN experiment with tritium
• Precision measurement of the fundamental vibrational frequencies of tritium-bearing hydrogen molecules: T${}_2$, DT, HT
• Effective neutrino masses in KATRIN and future tritium beta-decay experiments
• Bayesian Analysis of a Future Beta Decay Experiment's Sensitivity to Neutrino Mass Scale and Ordering
• Quantum Induced Broadening- A Challenge For Cosmic Neutrino Background Discovery
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• Constraints on the Active and Sterile Neutrino Masses from Beta-Ray Spectra: Past, Present and Future
• Charge-state distribution of Li ions from the $\beta$ decay of laser-trapped ${}^6$He atoms
• Determining Absolute Neutrino Mass using Quantum Technologies
• CARS spectroscopy of the ($v=0\to 1$) band in ${\mathrm{T}}_2$
• Statistical sensitivity on right-handed currents in presence of eV scale sterile neutrinos with KATRIN
• SYNCA: A Synthetic Cyclotron Antenna for the Project 8 Collaboration
• The Mont Blanc neutrinos from SN 1987A: Could they have been monochromatic (8 MeV) tachyons with $m^2=-0.38$ keV${}^2$?
• Demonstration of tritium adsorption on graphene
• Shake-up and shake-off effects in neutrinoless double-beta decay
• A study of the relativistic corrections to polarized tritium $\beta$-decay
• Status and Perspectives of Neutrino Physics
• New Constraint on the Local Relic Neutrino Background Overdensity with the First KATRIN Data Runs
• Anharmonicity of internal atomic oscillation and effective antineutrino mass evaluation from gaseous molecular tritium β-decay
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