We report on the neutrino mass measurement result from the first four-week science run of the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino experiment KATRIN in spring 2019. Beta-decay electrons from a high-purity gaseous molecular tritium source are energy analyzed by a high-resolution MAC-E filter. A fit of the integrated electron spectrum over a narrow interval around the kinematic end point at 18.57 keV gives an effective neutrino mass square value of (-1.0_{-1.1}^{+0.9})  eV^{2}. From this, we derive an upper limit of 1.1 eV (90% confidence level) on the absolute mass scale of neutrinos. This value coincides with the KATRIN sensitivity. It improves upon previous mass limits from kinematic measurements by almost a factor of 2 and provides model-independent input to cosmological studies of structure formation.

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Improved Upper Limit on the Neutrino Mass from a Direct Kinematic Method by KATRIN

Status of Light Sterile Neutrino Searches

Metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) are calorimetric low-temperature particle detectors that are currently strongly advancing the state of the art in energy-dispersive single particle detection. They are typically operated at temperatures below $$100\,\mathrm {mK}$$
 and make use of a metallic, paramagnetic temperature sensor to transduce the temperature rise of the detector upon the absorption of an energetic particle into a change of magnetic flux which is sensed by a superconducting quantum interference device. This outstanding interplay between a high-sensitivity thermometer and a near quantum-limited amplifier results in a very fast signal rise time, an excellent energy resolution, a large dynamic range, a quantum efficiency close to 100% as well as an almost ideal linear detector response. For this reason, a growing number of groups located all over the world is developing MMC arrays of various sizes which are routinely used in a variety of applications. Within this paper, we briefly review the state of the art of metallic magnetic calorimeters. This includes a discussion of the detection principle, sensor materials and detector geometries, readout concepts, the structure of modern detectors as well as the state-of-the-art detector performance.

Physics and Applications of Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters

This article describes BabyIAXO, an intermediate experimental stage of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO), proposed to be sited at DESY. IAXO is a large-scale axion helioscope that will look for axions and axion-like particles (ALPs), produced in the Sun, with unprecedented sensitivity. BabyIAXO is conceived to test all IAXO subsystems (magnet, optics and detectors) at a relevant scale for the final system and thus serve as prototype for IAXO, but at the same time as a fully-fledged helioscope with relevant physics reach itself, and with potential for discovery. The BabyIAXO magnet will feature two 10 m long, 70 cm diameter bores, and will host two detection lines (optics and detector) of dimensions similar to the final ones foreseen for IAXO. BabyIAXO will detect or reject solar axions or ALPs with axion-photon couplings down to $g_{a\gamma} \sim 1.5 \times 10^{-11}$ GeV$^{-1}$, and masses up to $m_a\sim 0.25$ eV. BabyIAXO will offer additional opportunities for axion research in view of IAXO, like the development of precision x-ray detectors to identify particular spectral features in the solar axion spectrum, and the implementation of radiofrequency-cavity-based axion dark matter setups.

Conceptual Design of BabyIAXO, the intermediate stage towards the International Axion Observatory

Recent years have witnessed many exciting breakthroughs in neutrino physics. The detection of neutrino oscillations has proved that neutrinos are massive particles, but the assessment of their absolute mass scale is still an outstanding challenge in today particle physics and cosmology. Since low temperature detectors were first proposed for neutrino physics experiments in 1984, there has been tremendous technical progress: today this technique offers the high energy resolution and scalability required to perform competitive experiments challenging the lowest electron neutrino masses. This paper reviews the thirty-year effort aimed at realizing calorimetric measurements with sub-eV neutrino mass sensitivity using low temperature detectors.

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The use of low temperature detectors for direct measurements of the mass of the electron neutrino

Neutrinos, and in particular their tiny but non-vanishing masses, can be considered one of the doors towards physics beyond the Standard Model. Precision measurements of the kinematics of weak interactions, in particular of the$^{3}$H β-decay and the$^{163}$Ho electron capture (EC), represent the only model independent approach to determine the absolute scale of neutrino masses. The electron capture in$^{163}$Ho experiment, ECHo, is designed to reach sub-eV sensitivity on the electron neutrino mass by means of the analysis of the calorimetrically measured electron capture spectrum of the nuclide$^{163}$Ho. The maximum energy available for this decay, about 2.8 keV, constrains the type of detectors that can be used. Arrays of low temperature metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) are being developed to measure the$^{163}$Ho EC spectrum with energy resolution below 3 eV FWHM and with a time resolution below 1 μs. To achieve the sub-eV sensitivity on the electron neutrino mass, together with the detector optimization, the availability of large ultra-pure$^{163}$Ho samples, the identification and suppression of background sources as well as the precise parametrization of the$^{163}$Ho EC spectrum are of utmost importance. The high-energy resolution$^{163}$Ho spectra measured with the first MMC prototypes with ion-implanted$^{163}$Ho set the basis for the ECHo experiment. We describe the conceptual design of ECHo and motivate the strategies we have adopted to carry on the present medium scale experiment, ECHo-1K. In this experiment, the use of 1 kBq$^{163}$Ho will allow to reach a neutrino mass sensitivity below 10 eV/c$^{2}$. We then discuss how the results being achieved in ECHo-1k will guide the design of the next stage of the ECHo experiment, ECHo-1M, where a source of the order of 1 MBq$^{163}$Ho embedded in large MMCs arrays will allow to reach sub-eV sensitivity on the electron neutrino mass.

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A. Domula

Papers

The electron capture in 163Ho experiment – ECHo