Project description
Improved search for sterile neutrinos
Dark matter refers to any substance that interacts predominantly via gravity with visible matter, including the stars and planets. The substance accounts for approximately 85 % of the matter in the universe and about a quarter of its total energy density. Sterile neutrinos with mass in the kilo-electronvolt (keV) regime are prime candidates for dark matter. The EU-funded SENSE project aims to probe the existence of eV–keV sterile neutrinos in a laboratory-based experiment with world-leading sensitivity. At the heart of the search is high-precision beta spectroscopy. The novel idea is to develop a beyond-the-state-of-the-art silicon-drift-detector system, which, combined with the large-scale Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (Katrin) experiment, will open the window to sterile neutrino signals not accessible elsewhere.
Objective
What is the nature of Dark Matter? What is the origin of the neutrino mass? These are two of the most compelling mysteries, physics is facing today. Despite its tremendous success, the Standard Model of Particle Physics does not provide an answer to these questions.
Since the Nobel-prize awarded discovery of the neutrino oscillations, which proofs that neutrinos have a mass, the existence of right-handed partners to the known left-handed neutrinos is a basic assumption. This minimal extension of the Standard Model provides a natural mechanism to generate neutrino masses and can lead to the existence of new types of neutrinos, so-called sterile neutrinos.
With a mass in the kilo-electron-volt (keV) regime, sterile neutrinos are a prime dark matter candidate. This dark matter type is especially appealing as it can act as warm dark matter, the existence of which would mitigate problems in our understanding of large-scale structures in the cosmos. The existence of sterile neutrinos with a mass in the eV-volt (eV) regime can resolve puzzling experimental anomalies observed in short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments.
With SENSE, I aim to probe the existence of eV – keV sterile neutrino in a laboratory-based experiment with world-leading sensitivity. A unique way to perform this search is via high-precision beta spectroscopy. The novel idea of SENSE is to develop a beyond-the-state-of-the-art Silicon-Drift-Detector system, which, combined with the large-scale Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (Katrin) experiment, will open the window to sterile neutrino signals not accessible elsewhere.
My role as analysis coordinator of the Katrin experiment and the expertise in semi-conductor detector technology of my independent Max-Planck-Research group put me in the ideal position to conduct this ambitious research project.
The discovery of sterile neutrinos would be a breakthrough in science with far-reaching consequences for our understanding of matter and the universe.
Fields of science
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Funding Scheme
ERC-STG - Starting GrantHost institution
80333 Muenchen
Germany