An upper limit on electron antineutrino mass from Troitsk experiment

TL;DR

This paper reports a reanalysis of data from the Troitsk experiment, setting an upper limit on the electron antineutrino mass at approximately 2.2 eV using tritium beta-decay measurements.

Contribution

It provides a refined upper limit on the electron antineutrino mass based on a comprehensive reanalysis of a decade's worth of experimental data.

Findings

Neutrino mass squared estimate: -0.67 ± 2.53 eV^2

Upper limit on neutrino mass: <2.2 eV (95% C.L.)

Consistent results with Bayesian and Feldman-Cousins methods

Abstract

An electron antineutrino mass has been measured in tritium beta-decay in the "Troitsk nu-mass" experiment. The setup consists of a windowless gaseous tritium source and an electrostatic electron spectrometer. The whole data set acquired from 1994 to 2004 was reanalysed. A thorough selection of data with the reliable experimental conditions has been performed. We checked every known systematic effect and got the following experimental estimate for neutrino mass squared m_{nu}^{2}=-0.67+/- 2.53 {eV}^{2}. This gives an experimental upper sensitivity limit of m_{nu}<2.2 eV and upper limit estimates m_{nu}<2.12 eV, 95% C.L. for Bayesian statistics and m_{nu}<2.05 eV, 95% C.L. for the Feldman and Cousins approach.