Probing Neutrino Mass with the PTOLEMY Demonstrator

The PTOLEMY experiment is designed to search for one of the most elusive relics of the Big Bang, the cosmic neutrino background, via neutrino capture on tritium. As a critical intermediate milestone, the collaboration is developing the PTOLEMY demonstrator to perform a direct measurement of the absolute neutrino mass.

The PTOLEMY approach integrates a novel compact electromagnetic filter, radio-frequency tracking, and precision calorimetry. Recent progress includes the development of a tritiated graphene source, new theoretical modeling of final-state effects on graphene using density functional theory, and high-resolution electron energy spectroscopy using transition-edge sensors. These advances open a new sensitivity frontier. Simulations and early hardware results indicate that PTOLEMY can achieve sub-200 meV mass sensitivity with microgram-scale tritium targets, potentially matching or exceeding the reach of current-generation experiments.

In this talk, I will present recent developments in the demonstrator program, detector integration, and the status of the superconducting magnet system. I will also outline the upcoming milestones on the path toward first physics measurements.