Neutrino mass determination using circulating heavy ions

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to determine neutrino masses by detecting photons and neutrinos emitted from coherently excited heavy ions in circular motion, potentially reaching sensitivities down to 5 meV.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using circulating heavy ions to measure neutrino masses through radiative emission processes.

Findings

Neutrino mass determination possible down to 5 meV

Method involves detecting photons and neutrinos simultaneously

Applicable in three-flavor neutrino scheme

Abstract

We study process of radiative neutrino pair emission $|e\rangle \rightarrow |g \rangle + \gamma +\nu \bar{\nu}$ from coherently excited heavy ions (quantum mixture of two ionic states, the ground and an excited states) in circular motion. Determination of the neutrino mass is found to be possible with simultaneous detection of the photon and one of neutrinos in the pair down to the level of the smallest neutrino mass of order 5 meV in the three flavor scheme.