Susanne Mertens -

The neutrino is one of the most fascinating particles of the Standard Model. While our understanding of the neutrino has changed dramatically over the past decade, some of its fundamental properties such as its mass and nature are still unknown. Moreover, it is still unknown whether or not there exists a right-handed partner to the normal left-handed neutrino, a so called sterile neutrino.

The prime goal of the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment is to directly probe the absolute neutrino mass scale by measuring the tritium beta decay spectrum close to its endpoint, where the influence of the neutrino mass is maximal. KATRIN makes use of a gaseous molecular tritium source of extremely high activity and stability. These properties allow KATRIN to extend its physics goal to also search sterile neutrinos.

This lecture will start with an introduction to the relevant aspects of neutrino physics and will then focus on the direct neutrino mass measurement and sterile neutrino search with the KATRIN experiment. We will discuss the working principle, the current status, and perspectives of the KATRIN experiment.