Speaker
Description
The PTOLEMY collaboration's ultimate goal is the first direct observation of the Cosmic Neutrino Background (CNB). As an essential milestone, we present the status and physics reach of the PTOLEMY-LNGS demonstrator now under construction at the Gran Sasso. The experiment utilizes a solid-state atomic tritium target, CRES-based background reduction, a new type of compact and scalable EM spectrometer, and transition edge sensor (TES) microcalorimetry to deliver 50 meV resolution in a room-sized space. A three-year demonstrator run will reach a neutrino-mass sensitivity of 150 meV (90% CL), more than a factor of two beyond current limits, and will establish the technique needed to scale to a 100g CNB target. We outline the project timeline, the strategy for sub-eV systematic control, and the complementarity of PTOLEMY's approach with KATRIN's MAC-E filter. By uniting novel materials, cryogenic calorimetry, and magnetic-drift optics, PTOLEMY opens a realistic path from precision beta-decay spectroscopy to the first glimpse of relic neutrinos from the Big Bang.
