Neutrinos are fundamental, lightweight particles: Electrically neutral, produced in processes like radioactive decay and nuclear reactions (e.g., in the sun). Their mass is unknown but tiny, less than a millionth of an electron’s mass.
KATRIN’s Goal: The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino experiment in Germany aims to precisely measure the mass of the electron antineutrino.
How KATRIN Works: Studies tritium decay, focusing on the emitted electron’s energy, which is affected by the neutrino’s mass. Measuring electron energies helps estimate the neutrino’s mass upper limit.
Latest KATRIN Finding: Reduced the upper limit of the neutrino mass to less than 0.45 electron volts (eV). This is a significant improvement (nearly 50% reduction) based on precise measurements of 36 million electrons from tritium decay.
Significance of Neutrino Mass Measurement: Crucial for understanding cosmology (dark matter/dark energy) and developing theories beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.
India’s Contribution: The proposed India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Tamil Nadu will focus on studying atmospheric neutrinos.
