Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 87: Neutrino Physics V

T 87.5: Talk

Friday, March 20, 2026, 10:00–10:15, AudiMax

Extended range measurement of the KATRIN energy loss function up to 200 eV — •Volker Hannen for the KATRIN collaboration — Universität Münster, Institut für Kernphysik, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 9, 48149 Münster

The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN) aims to determine the effective electron neutrino-mass via a precision measurement of the endpoint region of the tritium beta-decay spectrum. One of the dominant systematic uncertainties of the measurement are energy losses of the decay electrons due to inelastic scattering off tritium molecules while traversing the gaseous tritium source of the experiment. Measurements of the energy loss function in a range up to 60 eV, which is relevant for the neutrino mass analysis, have already been performed using an angular selective, mono-energetic photo-electron source. The energy loss function is also required for the determination of the column density of the tritium source where regular measurements are taken at selected surplus energies up to 200 eV. To avoid uncertainties related to the extrapolation of the current energy loss function to this value, we have performed extended range measurements of the inelastic electron scattering up to 200 eV. The talk will present results of the analysis of the new energy loss data in this extended range. This work is supported by BMFTR under contract number 05A23PMA.

Keywords: Neutrino mass; Electron scattering