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Feasibility of heavy neutrino mass searches in the EC decay of ⁷Be using superconducting tunnel junctions
Fretwell, Spencer L.
Fretwell, Spencer L.
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2019
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2020-09-24
Abstract
The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics has been the benchmark for subatomic studies for more than 50 years. Despite its success in describing nearly all matter, the SM cannot predict some of the fundamental observables in nature, including the masses of the neutrinos. In the SM weak interaction, only ``left-handed'' neutrinos exist. However, ``right-handed'' neutrinos which do not take part in the weak interaction - so-called ``sterile neutrinos'' - may yet exist as extensions to the Standard Model, and have proposed masses significantly heavier than those estimated for the SM neutrinos. Since these sterile neutrinos do not interact with normal matter as they pass through, there is a strong need for new experimental methods and detection paradigms to search for these proposed particles. This Thesis presents a proof-of-concept for a sensitive sterile neutrino search using superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) radiation detectors to accurately reconstruct the momentum profile of the nuclear electron capture (EC) decay of beryllium-7 (7Be). Since EC decay results in a pure two-body final-state, all information on the mass eigenstate of the neutrino is contained in the recoil nucleus kinetic energy, which in this case is on the order of 50 eV. These measurements were performed using harvested 7Be from the TRIUMF-ISAC rare-isotope beam facility in Vancouver, Canada, and the experimental measurements were subsequently performed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
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