HEINITZ , S.

This paper describes the production and chemical separation of the163Ho isotope that will be used in several nuclear physics experiments aiming at measuring the neutrino mass as well as the neutron cross section of the163Ho isotope. For this purpose, several batches of enriched162Er have been irradiated at the Institut Laue-Langevin high flux...

The HOLMES experiment aims to directly measure the [Formula presented] mass with a calorimetric approach. The choice of 163 Ho isotope as source is driven by the very low decay Q-value ([Formula presented] 2.8 keV), which allows for high sensitivity with low activities (O(10[Formula presented])Hz/detector), thus reducing the pile-up...

Background: About 50% of the heavy elements are produced in stars during the slow neutron capture process. The analysis of branching points allows us to set constraints on the temperature and the neutron density in the interior of stars. Purpose: The temperature dependence of the branch point 171Tm is weak. Hence, the 171Tm neutron...

The energy-dependent cross section of the 7Be(n,α)4He reaction, of interest for the so-called cosmological lithium problem in big bang nucleosynthesis, has been measured for the first time from 10 meV to 10 keV neutron energy. The challenges posed by the short half-life of 7Be and by the low reaction cross section have been overcome at n_TOF...

The HOLMES project aims to directly measure the [Formula presented] mass down to the eV scale using the electron capture decay (EC) of 163 Ho. It will perform a precise calorimetric measurement of the end-point of the Ho energy spectrum looking for the deformation caused by a finite [Formula presented] mass. The choice of 163 Ho as source is...

The main goal in the HOLMES experiment is the neutrino mass measurement using an array of 1000micro-calorimeters with standard metallic absorber. A good isotope for such measurement is the163Ho, those isotopes embedded in the metallic absorber will be 1011-1013. Since163Ho is not available in nature, a dedicated process must be set up to...

The assessment of the neutrino absolute mass scale is still a crucial challenge in today particle physics and cosmology. Beta or electron capture spectrum end-point study is currently the only experimental method which can provide a model independent measurement of the absolute scale of neutrino mass. HOLMES is an experiment to directly measure...

The neutron capture cross section of several key unstable isotopes acting as branching points in the s-process are crucial for stellar nucleosynthesis studies, but they are very challenging to measure due to the difficult production of sufficient sample material, the high activity of the resulting samples, and the actual (n,γ) measurement, for...

The assessment of neutrino absolute mass scale is still a crucial challenge in today particle physics and cosmology. Beta or electron capture spectrum end-point study is currently the only experimental method which can provide a model-independent measurement of the absolute scale of neutrino mass. HOLMES is an experiment funded by the European...

The European Research Council has recently founded HOLMES, an experiment for a direct neutrino mass measurement with a sensitivity as low as 0.4 eV. HOLMES will perform a calorimetric measurement of the the energy released in the Electron Capture (EC) spectrum of 163Ho. The neutrino mass is assessed from the end point of the spectrum; the...

The determination of the neutrino mass is an open issue in modern particle physics and astrophysics. The direct mass measurement is the only theory-unrelated experimental tool capable to probe such quantity. The HOLMES experiment will measure the end-point energy of the electron capture decay of163Ho, aiming at a statistical sensitivity on the...

HOLMES is a new experiment to directly measure the neutrino mass with a sensitivity as low as 0.4 eV. HOLMES will perform a calorimetric measurement of the energy released in the electron capture decay of163Ho. HOLMES will deploy a large array of low temperature microcalorimeters with implanted163Ho nuclei. HOLMES baseline detector is an array...

We report on the measurement of the 7Be(n,p)7Li cross section from thermal to approximately 325 keV neutron energy, performed in the high-flux experimental area (EAR2) of the n_TOF facility at CERN. This reaction plays a key role in the lithium yield of the big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) for standard cosmology. The only two previous...

HOLMES is a new experiment aiming at directly measuring the neutrino mass with a sensitivity below 2 eV . HOLMES will perform a calorimetric measurement of the energy released in the decay of163Ho. The calorimetric measurement eliminates systematic uncertainties arising from the use of external beta sources, as in experiments with...

The neutron capture cross section of some unstable nuclei is especially relevant for s-process nucleosynthesis studies. This magnitude is crucial to determine the local abundance pattern, which can yield valuable information of the s-process stellar environment. In this work we describe the neutron capture (n,γ) measurement on two of these...

Neutron capture data on intermediate mass nuclei are of key importance to nucleosynthesis in the weak component of the slow neutron capture processes, which occurs in massive stars. The (n,γ) cross section on 70Ge, which is mainly produced in the s process, was measured at the neutron time-of-flight facility n_TOF at CERN. Resonance capture...