Project 8: A frequency-based approach to measure the absolute neutrino mass scale*

Neutrino flavor oscillation experiments prove that neutrinos do have non- zero masses. Extensions to the Standard Model of Particle Physics have been developed to explain the non-zero masses and can be directly tested by a measurement of the absolute neutrino mass scale. A highest precision measurement of the β⁻-decay spectrum of tritium around its endpoint region (Q = 18.6 keV) can reveal the antielectron neutrino mass m_ν. The current state of the art experiment stretches all technological limits to probe m_ν  down to 200 meV/c². The Project 8 collaboration envisions a completely new path to measure m_ν. The recently demonstrated technique of Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) allows for a frequency-based measurement of the decay electron energy. I will present this new approach and the collaboration’s staged approach to devise an experiment that combines CRES with an atomic tritium source to achieve a neutrino mass sensitivity of 40meV/c², below the minimum mν ̄e allowed for the inverted neutrino mass ordering scheme.