The Electron Capture $^{163}$Ho Experiment ECHo

TL;DR

The ECHo experiment aims to measure the electron neutrino mass in the sub-eV range by analyzing the energy spectrum from electron capture in 163-Ho using advanced calorimetric detectors.

Contribution

It introduces a novel calorimetric approach with high precision detectors to investigate neutrino mass via electron capture in 163-Ho.

Findings

Preliminary results from prototype detectors show promising energy resolution.

Development of high-statistics calorimetric measurement techniques.

Collaborative efforts advancing detector technology for neutrino mass measurement.

Abstract

The determination of the absolute scale of the neutrino masses is one of the most challenging questions in particle physics. Different approaches are followed to achieve a sensitivity on neutrino masses in the sub-eV range. Among them, experiments exploring the beta decay and electron capture processes of suitable nuclides can provide necessary information on the electron neutrino mass value. In this talk we present the Electron Capture 163-Ho experiment ECHo, which aims to investigate the electron neutrino mass in the sub-eV range by means of the analysis of the calorimetrically measured energy spectrum following the electron capture process of 163-Ho. A high precision and high statistics spectrum will be measured by means of low temperature magnetic calorimeter arrays. We present preliminary results obtained with a first prototype of single channel detectors as well as the participating groups and their on-going developments.