Sterile-neutrino search based on 259 days of KATRIN data

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61389005%3A_____%2F25%3A00645184" target="_blank" >RIV/61389005:_____/25:00645184 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09739-9" target="_blank" >https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09739-9</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09739-9" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41586-025-09739-9</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Sterile-neutrino search based on 259 days of KATRIN data

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Neutrinos are the most abundant fundamental matter particles in the Universe and play a crucial part in particle physics and cosmology. Neutrino oscillation, discovered about 25 years ago, shows that the three known species mix with each other. Anomalous results from reactor and radioactive-source experiments1 suggest a possible fourth neutrino state, the sterile neutrino, which does not interact through the weak force. The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment2, primarily designed to measure the neutrino mass using tritium beta-decay, also searches for sterile neutrinos suggested by these anomalies. A sterile-neutrino signal would appear as a distortion in the beta-decay energy spectrum, characterized by a discontinuity in curvature (kink) related to the sterile-neutrino mass. This signature, which depends only on the shape of the spectrum rather than its absolute normalization, offers a robust, complementary approach to reactor experiments. Here we report the analysis of the energy spectrum of 36 million tritium beta-decay electrons recorded in 259 measurement days within the last 40 eV below the endpoint. The results exclude a substantial part of the parameter space suggested by the gallium anomaly and challenge the Neutrino-4 claim. Together with other neutrino-disappearance experiments, KATRIN probes sterile-to-active mass splittings from a fraction of an eV2 to several hundred eV2, excluding light sterile neutrinos with mixing angles above a few per cent.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Sterile-neutrino search based on 259 days of KATRIN data

Popis výsledku anglicky

Neutrinos are the most abundant fundamental matter particles in the Universe and play a crucial part in particle physics and cosmology. Neutrino oscillation, discovered about 25 years ago, shows that the three known species mix with each other. Anomalous results from reactor and radioactive-source experiments1 suggest a possible fourth neutrino state, the sterile neutrino, which does not interact through the weak force. The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment2, primarily designed to measure the neutrino mass using tritium beta-decay, also searches for sterile neutrinos suggested by these anomalies. A sterile-neutrino signal would appear as a distortion in the beta-decay energy spectrum, characterized by a discontinuity in curvature (kink) related to the sterile-neutrino mass. This signature, which depends only on the shape of the spectrum rather than its absolute normalization, offers a robust, complementary approach to reactor experiments. Here we report the analysis of the energy spectrum of 36 million tritium beta-decay electrons recorded in 259 measurement days within the last 40 eV below the endpoint. The results exclude a substantial part of the parameter space suggested by the gallium anomaly and challenge the Neutrino-4 claim. Together with other neutrino-disappearance experiments, KATRIN probes sterile-to-active mass splittings from a fraction of an eV2 to several hundred eV2, excluding light sterile neutrinos with mixing angles above a few per cent.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10303 - Particles and field physics

Projekt

—

Návaznosti

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2025

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Nature

ISSN

0028-0836

e-ISSN

1476-4687

Svazek periodika

648

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

8092

Stát vydavatele periodika

DE - Spolková republika Německo

Počet stran výsledku

25

Strana od-do

70-75

Kód UT WoS článku

001634400900002

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-105023912334