Inverse Tritium Beta Decay with Relic Neutrinos, Solar Neutrinos, and a 51Cr Source

Abstract

The inverse tritium beta decay (ITBD) reaction, ${\nu }_e{+}^3$H $\to e^{-}{+}^3$He, is a promising experimental tool for observing relic neutrinos created in the early Universe. This reaction has been selected by the PTOLEMY experiment for the search of relic neutrinos. Despite its potential, the ITBD reaction induced by any sources of neutrinos has yet to be observed. We show that an intense ${}^{51}$Cr radioactive neutrino source is suitable for observing the ITBD reaction for the first time. As the Sun is another source of intense electron neutrinos, we also examine the ITBD reaction rate from solar neutrinos. Based on our recent studies on the evolution of the helicity of relic neutrinos, we further present the ITBD rate for capturing relic neutrinos as a function of neutrino mass hierarchy, the Dirac versus Majorana nature of neutrino, and the mass of the lightest neutrino.

5 pages, 4 figures, final version to appear in PRD

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Anapole moment of neutrinos and radioactive sources near liquid xenon detectors