https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11818-y
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
Search for keV-scale sterile neutrinos with the first KATRIN data
1
Institute for Astroparticle Physics (IAP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
2
Institute for Data Processing and Electronics (IPE), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
3
Institute for Nuclear Research of Russian Academy of Sciences, 60th October Anniversary Prospect 7a, 117312, Moscow, Russia
4
Institute for Nuclear Physics, University of Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 9, 48149, Münster, Germany
5
Institute of Experimental Particle Physics (ETP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang-Gaede-Str. 1, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany
6
Institute for Technical Physics (ITEP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
7
Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Str. 1, 85748, Garching, Germany
8
Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, Föhringer Ring 6, 80805, Munich, Germany
9
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina, 27599, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
10
Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, 27708, Durham, NC, USA
11
Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Wuppertal, Gaußstr. 20, 42119, Wuppertal, Germany
12
Departamento de Química Física Aplicada, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
13
Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, and Dept. of Physics, University of Washington, 98195, Seattle, WA, USA
14
Nuclear Physics Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, 25068, Řež, Czech Republic
15
Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA
16
Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, 15213, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
17
IRFU (DPhP and APC), CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
18
Institute for Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics and Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA
19
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany
20
Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstr. 15, 12489, Berlin, Germany
21
Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Heidelberg, Albert-Ueberle-Str. 2, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
22
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 37831, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
Received:
4
October
2022
Accepted:
10
July
2023
Published online:
29
August
2023
In this work we present a keV-scale sterile-neutrino search with a low-tritium-activity data set of the KATRIN experiment, acquired in a commissioning run in 2018. KATRIN performs a spectroscopic measurement of the tritium 
-decay spectrum with the main goal of directly determining the effective electron anti-neutrino mass. During this commissioning phase a lower tritium activity facilitated the measurement of a wider part of the tritium spectrum and thus the search for sterile neutrinos with a mass of up to 
. We do not find a signal and set an exclusion limit on the sterile-to-active mixing amplitude of 
(
C.L.) at a mass of 0.3 keV. This result improves current laboratory-based bounds in the sterile-neutrino mass range between 0.1 and 1.0 keV.
© The Author(s) 2023
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Funded by SCOAP3. SCOAP3 supports the goals of the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development.
