The KATRIN neutrino mass experiment

The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino experiment (KATRIN) aims to determine the electron neutrino mass from tritium decay in a model-independent way, by a kinematic measurement of the energy of β-electrons. The unprecedented sensitivity of 0.2 eV/c2 will improve present limits by one order of magnitude. The decay electrons will originate from a 10 m long windowless gaseous tritium source. Super-conducting magnets will guide the electrons through a differential and cryogenic pumping section to the electro-static tandem spectrometer (MAG-E-filter), where the kinetic energy will be measured. The experiment is presently being built at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe by an international collaboration of more than 120 scientists. The largest component, the 1240 m3 main spectrometer, was delivered end of 2006 and first commissioning tests have been performed. This paper gives an overview of the goals and technological challenges of the experiment and reports on the progress in commissioning first major components. The start of first measurements is expected in 2012.