Abstract

The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment aims to determine the absolute mass of the electron antineutrino from a precise measurement of the tritium β-spectrum near its endpoint at 18.6 keV with a sensitivity of 0.2 eV c−2. KATRIN uses an electrostatic retardation spectrometer of MAC-E filter type for which it is crucial to monitor high voltages of up to 35 kV with a precision and long-term stability at the ppm level. Since devices capable of this precision are not commercially available, a new high voltage divider for direct voltages of up to 35 kV has been designed, following the new concept of the standard divider for direct voltages of up to 100 kV developed at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)PTB is the German National Metrology Institute providing scientific and technical services.. The electrical and mechanical design of the divider, the screening procedure for the selection of the precision resistors, and the results of the investigation and calibration at the PTB are reported here. During the latter, uncertainties at the low ppm level have been deduced for the new divider, thus qualifying it for the precision measurements of the KATRIN experiment.

Highlights

  • The properties of neutrinos and especially their rest mass play an important role for cosmology, particle physics, and astroparticle physics

  • Uncertainties at the low ppm level have been deduced for the new divider, qualifying it for the precision measurements of the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN) experiment

  • The KATRIN experiment is based on the experimental experience of its predecessor experiments in Mainz [3] and Troitsk [4] and aims to improve their sensitivity on the neutrino rest mass by one order of magnitude to 0.2 eV/c2 [7]

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Summary

Introduction

The properties of neutrinos and especially their rest mass play an important role for cosmology, particle physics, and astroparticle physics. At present the most sensitive and model-independent method to determine the neutrino rest mass in a laboratory experiment is the investigation of the energy spectrum of tritium β-decay. At a few eV below the endpoint energy E0 = 18.6 keV of the β-spectrum the signature of the neutrino rest mass is maximal [1]. The KATRIN experiment is based on the experimental experience of its predecessor experiments in Mainz [3] and Troitsk [4] and aims to improve their sensitivity on the neutrino rest mass by one order of magnitude to 0.2 eV/c2 [7]

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