Analysis methods for the first KATRIN neutrino-mass measurement

Abstract

While neutrino mass differences are well-measured through neutrino oscillation experiments, the absolute mass is not known beyond upper bounds. The KATRIN experiment recently set the best limit on the absolute neutrino mass scale by a tour de force experiment measuring a model-independent neutrino mass combination through an extremely precise measurement of the kinematics of molecular tritium beta decay. The crucial details of how this exquisite result was achieved is explained in this paper.