The discovery of neutrino flavor oscillations has definitively shown that neutrinos have non-zero mass. This result contradicts the Standard Model and has wide ranging implications in fields ranging from particle physics to cosmology. However, important questions remain: What is the absolute neutrino mass scale? Is the neutrino a Majorana or Dirac particle? A number of large-scale experiments are underway or are being developed to attempt to answer these questions. These experiments fall into two categories: direct neutrino mass determination experiments, and searches for neutrinoless double β-decay. In this talk I will describe how high precision atomic mass measurements can contribute to these experimental searches by providing Q values for current and planned ββ-decay and neutrino mass determination experiments. I will discuss measurements that have been performed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory and at Argonne National Lab, and describe a new high-precision Penning trap that we are developing at Central Michigan University.

Argonne Physics Division Seminar Schedule