Radiative tritium β-decay and the neutrino mass

Susan Gardner; Véronique Bernard; Ulf G. Meißner

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2004.08.006

Radiative tritium β-decay and the neutrino mass

Susan Gardner, Véronique Bernard, Ulf G. Meißner

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

The shape of the electron energy spectrum in ³H β-decay permits a direct assay of the absolute scale of the neutrino mass; a highly accurate theoretical description of the electron energy spectrum is necessary to the empirical task. We update Sirlin's calculation of the outer radiative correction to nuclear β-decay to take into account the non-zero energy resolution of the electron detector. In previous ³H β-decay studies the outer radiative corrections were neglected all together; only Coulomb corrections to the spectrum were included. This neglect artificially pushes mν2<0 in a potentially significant way. We present a computation of the theoretical spectrum appropriate to the extraction of the neutrino mass in the sub-eV regime.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	188-196
Number of pages	9
Journal	Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
Volume	598
Issue number	3-4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2004.08.006
State	Published - Sep 30 2004

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The work of S.G. is supported in part by the US Department of Energy under contract number DE-FG02-96ER40989. We thank Wolfgang Korsch for helpful discussions and much-needed assistance with ROOT and Christian Weinheimer for useful comments and correspondence. S.G. thanks the SLAC theory group for hospitality during the completion of this manuscript. We are grateful to Burton Richter for suggestions helpful in improving our presentation.

Funding

The work of S.G. is supported in part by the US Department of Energy under contract number DE-FG02-96ER40989. We thank Wolfgang Korsch for helpful discussions and much-needed assistance with ROOT and Christian Weinheimer for useful comments and correspondence. S.G. thanks the SLAC theory group for hospitality during the completion of this manuscript. We are grateful to Burton Richter for suggestions helpful in improving our presentation.

Funders	Funder number
U.S. Department of Energy EPSCoR	DE-FG02-96ER40989

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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10.1016/j.physletb.2004.08.006

Cite this

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title = "Radiative tritium β-decay and the neutrino mass",

abstract = "The shape of the electron energy spectrum in 3H β-decay permits a direct assay of the absolute scale of the neutrino mass; a highly accurate theoretical description of the electron energy spectrum is necessary to the empirical task. We update Sirlin's calculation of the outer radiative correction to nuclear β-decay to take into account the non-zero energy resolution of the electron detector. In previous 3H β-decay studies the outer radiative corrections were neglected all together; only Coulomb corrections to the spectrum were included. This neglect artificially pushes mν2<0 in a potentially significant way. We present a computation of the theoretical spectrum appropriate to the extraction of the neutrino mass in the sub-eV regime.",

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note = "Funding Information: The work of S.G. is supported in part by the US Department of Energy under contract number DE-FG02-96ER40989. We thank Wolfgang Korsch for helpful discussions and much-needed assistance with ROOT and Christian Weinheimer for useful comments and correspondence. S.G. thanks the SLAC theory group for hospitality during the completion of this manuscript. We are grateful to Burton Richter for suggestions helpful in improving our presentation.",

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AU - Gardner, Susan

AU - Bernard, Véronique

AU - Meißner, Ulf G.

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PY - 2004/9/30

Y1 - 2004/9/30

N2 - The shape of the electron energy spectrum in 3H β-decay permits a direct assay of the absolute scale of the neutrino mass; a highly accurate theoretical description of the electron energy spectrum is necessary to the empirical task. We update Sirlin's calculation of the outer radiative correction to nuclear β-decay to take into account the non-zero energy resolution of the electron detector. In previous 3H β-decay studies the outer radiative corrections were neglected all together; only Coulomb corrections to the spectrum were included. This neglect artificially pushes mν2<0 in a potentially significant way. We present a computation of the theoretical spectrum appropriate to the extraction of the neutrino mass in the sub-eV regime.

AB - The shape of the electron energy spectrum in 3H β-decay permits a direct assay of the absolute scale of the neutrino mass; a highly accurate theoretical description of the electron energy spectrum is necessary to the empirical task. We update Sirlin's calculation of the outer radiative correction to nuclear β-decay to take into account the non-zero energy resolution of the electron detector. In previous 3H β-decay studies the outer radiative corrections were neglected all together; only Coulomb corrections to the spectrum were included. This neglect artificially pushes mν2<0 in a potentially significant way. We present a computation of the theoretical spectrum appropriate to the extraction of the neutrino mass in the sub-eV regime.

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JO - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics

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ER -

Radiative tritium β-decay and the neutrino mass

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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