A bolometric measurement of the antineutrino mass

Abstract

High statistics calorimetric measurements of the beta spectrum of 187Re are being performed with arrays of silver perrhenate crystals operated at low temperature. After a modification of the experimental set-up, which allowed to substantially reduce the background of spurious counts and therefore to increase the sensitivity on the electron antineutrino mass, a new measurement with 10 silver perrhenate microbolometers is running since July 2002. The crystals have masses between 250 and 350 micrograms and their average FWHM energy resolution, constantly monitored by means of fluorescence X-rays, is of 28.3 eV at the beta end-point. The Kurie plot collected during 4485 hours x mg effective running time has an end-point energy of 2466.1 +/- 0.8{stat} +/- 1.5 {syst} eV, while the half lifetime of the decay is found to be 43.2 +/- 0.2{stat} +/- 0.1{syst} Gy. These values are the most precise obtained so far for 187Re. From the fit of the Kurie plot we can deduce a value for the squared electron antineutrino mass m(nu)^2 of 147 +/- 237{stat} +/- 90{syst} eV^2. The corresponding 90% C.L. upper limit for m(nu) is 21.7 eV.

3 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett

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• Direct Evidence for Neutrino Flavor Transformation from Neutral-Current Interactions in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
• Solar 8B and hep Neutrino Measurements from 1258 Days of Super-Kamiokande Data

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• A Comment on the Measurement of Neutrino Masses in Beta-Decay Experiments
• Investigation of peak shapes in the MIBETA experiment calibrations
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• Impact of embedded ${}^{163}$Ho on the performance of the transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters of the HOLMES experiment
• Probing Neutrino low energy and mass scales