Apr 13 – 16, 2026
KIT Campus South
Europe/Berlin timezone

TRIMS: The Molecular Physics of Tritium Decay

Apr 14, 2026, 5:21 PM
2m
Gaede Foyer (KIT Campus South)

Gaede Foyer

KIT Campus South

2nd floor (in front of Gaede-Lecture theater) Physikflachbau Building 30.22 Engesserstraße 7 76131 Karlsruhe
Poster Posters

Speaker

Diana Parno (Carnegie Mellon University)

Description

When tritium beta decay occurs within a molecule, the resulting distribution of electronic, vibrational and rotational molecular excitations modifies the shape of the beta spectrum. Experiments like KATRIN require a detailed theoretical understanding of these spectral changes in order to probe the absolute mass scale of the neutrino via TT beta decay. The Tritium Recoil Ion Mass Spectrometer (TRIMS) experiment ran in 2018 - 2019 to test the predicted probabilities of different final-state ion topologies after HT and TT decay. ??

This poster will discuss recent progress in the TRIMS analysis, including the identification of a gradual gain drift and significant improvements in isolating the TT and HT signals from mixed sources. We will also explain a new, quantitative understanding of why historical ion spectrometry measurements substantially disagreed with theoretical predictions.

Collaboration or Other Affiliation Other

Author

Diana Parno (Carnegie Mellon University)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.