Göttingen 2012 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 108: Niederenergie-Neutrinophysik/Suche nach Dunkler Materie 3

T 108.9: Talk

Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 18:50–19:05, ZHG 102

Neutrino mass determination utilizing high precision measurements of the ¹⁶³Ho electron capture spectrum — •P. Ranitzsch, J.-P. Porst, S. Schäfer, S. Kempf, C. Pies, N. Foerster, D. Hengstler, S. Uhl, T. Wolf, A. Fleischmann, C. Enss, and L. Gastaldo — Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics, Heidelberg University

The absolute scale of the neutrino mass eigenstates is one of the puzzles in modern particle physics and can be directly investigated using electroweak decays. In the context of the ECHO collaboration we are developing low temperature metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) to be used with an internal ¹⁶³Ho source to measure its electron capture spectrum.

MMCs are calorimetric particle detectors operated below 100 mK based on a paramagnetic temperature sensor, that convert the temperature rise due to the absorption of an energetic particle to a change of magnetization which is detected by a SQUID magnetometer. These detectors fulfill the requirements for cryogenic neutrino mass investigations, namely an energy resolution Δ E_FWHM below 2 eV and pulse formation times of τ<1 µ s. Δ E_FWHM=2.0 eV and τ=90 ns have been observed in micro-fabricated MMCs for soft X-ray detection.

We outline the scientific goals and the contributions of the participating groups of the recently formed ECHO collaboration. We present results obtained with a first detector prototype using a Au absorber with ¹⁶³Ho ions implanted at ISOLDE(CERN). The achieved energy resolution of Δ E_FWHM=12 eV and rise times of τ=90 ns are very promising results and encourage further investigation.