Searches for massive neutrinos with mechanical quantum sensors

Abstract

The development of quantum optomechanics now allows mechanical sensors with femtogram masses to be controlled and measured in the quantum regime. If the mechanical element contains isotopes that undergo nuclear decay, measuring the recoil of the sensor following the decay allows reconstruction of the total momentum of all emitted particles, including any neutral particles that may escape detection in traditional detectors. As an example, for weak nuclear decays the momentum of the emitted neutrino can be reconstructed on an event-by-event basis. We present the concept that a single nanometer-scale, optically levitated sensor operated with sensitivity near the standard quantum limit can search for heavy sterile neutrinos in the keV-MeV mass range with sensitivity significantly beyond existing constraints. We also comment on the possibility that mechanical sensors operated well into the quantum regime might ultimately reach the sensitivities required to provide an absolute measurement of the mass of the light neutrino states.

11 pages + refs, 7 figures. v2: published version (+ an appendix containing a quantum model of the 3-body decay in a nanosphere)

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Quantum theory of light interaction with a Lorenz-Mie particle: Optical detection and three-dimensional ground-state cooling
• An $\text{ab initio}$ strategy for taming nuclear-structure dependence of $V_{ud}$ extractions: the ${}^{10}\mathrm{C}\to {}^{10}\mathrm{B}$ superallowed transition
• Superallowed nuclear beta decays and precision tests of the Standard Model
• Dark Matter Searches with Levitated Sensors
• Quantum Optical Binding of Nanoscale Particles
• Mechanical detection of nuclear decays
• Sensing microscopic directional noise baths with an optically cooled and levitated nanoparticle
• Collision-resolved pressure sensing
• Optical Levitation of Arrays of Microspheres
• Magnetic noise in macroscopic quantum spatial superposition
• Search for Dark Matter Scattering from Optically Levitated Nanoparticles
• High-precision measurements of the atomic mass and electron-capture decay $Q$ value of ${}^{95}$Tc
• Optomechanical vector sensing of new forces at 6 micron separation
• Selective Loading of a Micrometer-Scale Particle into a Magneto-Gravitational Trap by Sublimation-Activated Release