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Analysis of MAGNETO-ν data and a preliminary limit to keV-sterile neutrino mixing

ORAL

Abstract

Sterile neutrino in the keV scale is a potential dark matter candidate. A non-zero mixing of sterile neutrino with the electron-antineutrino can cause a discontinuity in the beta spectrum. Thus, a precise beta spectrum measurement in the keV region is a test of presence of the keV-scale sterile neutrino. The MAGNETO-ν experiment measures the total beta decay spectrum of 241Pu, including the daughter nuclear recoils, with high resolution magnetic microcalorimeters (MMCs). The 241Pu sources are fully embedded into the detector to achieve total energy absorption with ~100% detection efficiency. This approach has allowed us to achieve O(0.01) sensitivity for the sterile neutrino mixing |Ue4|2 in the 10 keV mass region with only 24 hours of measurement and a single detector with a 1 Bq 241Pu source. We are presenting the experimental setup, the data processing, and the preliminary analysis for sterile neutrino probing with current dataset taken for 10 days with a 100 Bq source.

Presenters

  • Xianyi Zhang

    Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

Authors

  • Xianyi Zhang

    Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Alexander Kavner

    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Geon-Bo Kim

    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory