Limits on the Existence of sub-MeV Sterile Neutrinos from the Decay of Be 7 in Superconducting Quantum Sensors

S. Friedrich; G. B. Kim; C. Bray; R. Cantor; J. Dilling; S. Fretwell; J. A. Hall; A. Lennarz; V. Lordi; P. MacHule; D. McKeen; X. Mougeot; F. Ponce; C. Ruiz; A. Samanta; W. K. Warburton; K. G. Leach

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.021803

Limits on the Existence of sub-MeV Sterile Neutrinos from the Decay of Be 7 in Superconducting Quantum Sensors

S. Friedrich, G. B. Kim, C. Bray, R. Cantor, J. Dilling, S. Fretwell, J. A. Hall, A. Lennarz, V. Lordi, P. MacHule, D. McKeen, X. Mougeot, F. Ponce, C. Ruiz, A. Samanta, W. K. Warburton, K. G. Leach

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Abstract

Sterile neutrinos are natural extensions to the standard model of particle physics and providea possible portal to the dark sector. We report a new search for the existence of sub-MeV sterile neutrinos using the decay-momentum reconstruction technique in the decay of Be7. The experiment measures the total energy of the Li7 daughter atom from the electron capture decay of Be7 implanted into sensitive superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) quantum sensors. This first experiment presents data from a single STJ operated at a low count rate for a net total of 28 days, and provides exclusion limits on sterile neutrinos in the mass range from 100 to 850 keV that improve upon previous work by up to an order of magnitude.

Original language	English
Article number	021803
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	126
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.021803
State	Published - Jan 13 2021
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work was supported by the LLNL Laboratory Directed Research and Development program through Grants No. 19-FS-027 and No. 20-LW-006, the Office of Nuclear Physics in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science under Grants No. DE-SC0017649 and No. DE-SC0021245, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. TRIUMF receives federal funding via a contribution agreement with the National Research Council of Canada. This research was performed under appointment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation International Safeguards Fellowship Program sponsored by the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administrations Office of International Nuclear Safeguards (NA-241). This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344. We thank F. Ames, L. Clark, U. Greife, P. Kunz, J. Lassen, and B. Schultz for their efforts in facilitating the ion-beam implantation, and J. Behr, A. Bernstein, G. Chapline, T. Kibedi, A. Ray, and F. Sarazin for useful discussions.

Funders	Funder number
National Nuclear Security Administrations Office of International Nuclear Safeguards	NA-241
Office of Nuclear Physics
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science	DE-SC0017649, DE-SC0021245
Office of Science
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory	DE-AC52-07NA27344
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Laboratory Directed Research and Development	19-FS-027, 20-LW-006
Laboratory Directed Research and Development
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

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10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.021803

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Friedrich, S., Kim, G. B., Bray, C., Cantor, R., Dilling, J., Fretwell, S., Hall, J. A., Lennarz, A., Lordi, V., MacHule, P., McKeen, D., Mougeot, X., Ponce, F., Ruiz, C., Samanta, A., Warburton, W. K., & Leach, K. G. (2021). Limits on the Existence of sub-MeV Sterile Neutrinos from the Decay of Be 7 in Superconducting Quantum Sensors. Physical Review Letters, 126(2), Article 021803. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.021803

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title = "Limits on the Existence of sub-MeV Sterile Neutrinos from the Decay of Be 7 in Superconducting Quantum Sensors",

abstract = "Sterile neutrinos are natural extensions to the standard model of particle physics and providea possible portal to the dark sector. We report a new search for the existence of sub-MeV sterile neutrinos using the decay-momentum reconstruction technique in the decay of Be7. The experiment measures the total energy of the Li7 daughter atom from the electron capture decay of Be7 implanted into sensitive superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) quantum sensors. This first experiment presents data from a single STJ operated at a low count rate for a net total of 28 days, and provides exclusion limits on sterile neutrinos in the mass range from 100 to 850 keV that improve upon previous work by up to an order of magnitude.",

author = "S. Friedrich and Kim, {G. B.} and C. Bray and R. Cantor and J. Dilling and S. Fretwell and Hall, {J. A.} and A. Lennarz and V. Lordi and P. MacHule and D. McKeen and X. Mougeot and F. Ponce and C. Ruiz and A. Samanta and Warburton, {W. K.} and Leach, {K. G.}",

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Friedrich, S, Kim, GB, Bray, C, Cantor, R, Dilling, J, Fretwell, S, Hall, JA, Lennarz, A, Lordi, V, MacHule, P, McKeen, D, Mougeot, X, Ponce, F, Ruiz, C, Samanta, A, Warburton, WK & Leach, KG 2021, 'Limits on the Existence of sub-MeV Sterile Neutrinos from the Decay of Be 7 in Superconducting Quantum Sensors', Physical Review Letters, vol. 126, no. 2, 021803. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.021803

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AU - Friedrich, S.

AU - Kim, G. B.

AU - Bray, C.

AU - Cantor, R.

AU - Dilling, J.

AU - Fretwell, S.

AU - Hall, J. A.

AU - Lennarz, A.

AU - Lordi, V.

AU - MacHule, P.

AU - McKeen, D.

AU - Mougeot, X.

AU - Ponce, F.

AU - Ruiz, C.

AU - Samanta, A.

AU - Warburton, W. K.

AU - Leach, K. G.

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Limits on the Existence of sub-MeV Sterile Neutrinos from the Decay of Be 7 in Superconducting Quantum Sensors

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