Speaker
Description
Sterile neutrinos in the keV mass range are a well-motivated extension of the Standard Model and viable dark matter candidates. Their existence can be probed in laboratory experiments, as the admixture of a sterile state would induce a characteristic kink-like distortion in the β-decay electron energy spectrum. Following the completion of its neutrino mass program, KATRIN will extend its physics reach to the search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos. This effort will be enabled by the TRISTAN detector, a newly developed silicon drift detector array optimized for differential measurements at high rates and energies well below the endpoint. With four months of detector livetime, KATRIN has the statistical power to probe mixing amplitudes at the level of |Ue4|2 ~ 10-6 for sterile neutrino masses in the (4–13) keV range, significantly extending the reach of previous laboratory searches. The major experimental systematic uncertainties investigated in this work reduces the sensitivity by a factor of 10–50 over the same mass range.
In this poster, I will present an overview of this new measurement phase and the projected sensitivity of KATRIN to keV-scale sterile neutrinos.
| Collaboration or Other Affiliation | KATRIN |
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