Status of the Project 8 Phase II

TL;DR

The Project 8 Phase II aims to precisely measure the tritium beta decay spectrum using cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy, optimizing algorithms and hardware for accurate neutrino mass determination.

Contribution

This work advances the experimental setup and calibration techniques necessary for high-precision neutrino mass measurements via cyclotron radiation spectroscopy.

Findings

Optimized event reconstruction algorithms.

Improved magnetic field calibration methods.

Progress in understanding electron kinematics.

Abstract

The Project 8 collaboration aims to measure the absolute neutrino mass scale using cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy on the beta decay of tritium. The second phase of the project will measure a continuous spectrum of molecular tritium beta decays and extract the tritium endpoint value with an eV or sub-eV scale precision. Monoenergetic electrons emitted by gaseous $^{83\mathrm{m}}$Kr atoms are used to determine the relationship between cyclotron frequency and electron energy. This study allows us to optimize both the event reconstruction algorithm and the hardware configuration, in preparation for measuring the tritium beta decay spectrum. Phase II will benefit from a gas system of krypton and tritium that will allow measurement of and offline correction for magnetic field fluctuations. We present the recent progress in understanding the electron kinematics and implementing the magnetic field calibration.