Thornby, John Albert (2008) AMBER : a novel approach to neutrino mass measurement. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The existence of neutrino oscillations demands that neutrinos have non-zero rest mass, the evidence for and implications of which are discussed. Nuclear B-decay is offered as a model-independent tool for direct neutrino mass measurement and contemporary experimental measurements are reviewed. The AMBER experiment is introduced as a novel charge spectrometer, aimed at precision electron energy measurements to probe the structure of the B-spectrum close to its endpoint. AMBER employs a vacuum insulated inverse Kelvin probe to continuously monitor a single rate-of-change observable. A detailed technical description of the technique is provided, followed by proof of principle demonstrations and an examination of hardware performance and its capability to provide sub-eV electron energy resolution. a first order B-spectrum reconstruction algorithm is described and applied to data from a Monte Carlo simulation of a highly idealised AMBER-like model experiment, in which important source scattering effects are neglected, and a calculation of the sensitivity to the neutrino mass is made. Finally the successes and shortcomings of the AMBER technique are discussed.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Neutrinos -- Mass, Neutrinos -- Measurement
Official Date:	September 2008
Dates:	Date Event September 2008 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Physics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Ramachers, Y.; Harrison, P. F.
Sponsors:	Science and Technology Facilities Council (Great Britain) (STFC)
Extent:	xvii, 204 pages.
Language:	eng

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