MAGNETO-ν: Searching for keV-scale sterile neutrino in ²⁴¹Pu beta decays

Sterile neutrino of a keV-scale mass is one of strong low mass dark matter candidates. The MAGNETO-ν experiment is a search for keV neutrino signatures in 241Pu beta decays using magnetic quantum sensors. Non-zero mixing of the keV neutrino with the electron neutrino can result in emission of sterile neutrinos in nuclear beta decays, reducing maximum energies carried by electrons and nuclear recoils and producing the “kink” structure in beta decay spectra. 241Pu has a single beta decay branch to the ground state of 241Am with the 20.78(17) keV Q-value and the 14.329(29) y half-life, therefore is very suitable for searching for sterile neutrinos in the 1 keV – 20 keV mass range. MAGNETO-ν uses enriched 241Pu sources and Decay Energy Spectrometry (DES) technique with magnetic quantum sensors for high resolution, low background, and high statistics measurement of 241Pu beta spectrum. Our first result of 241Pu measurement and experiment plan as well as systematics of the experiment will be presented.