The effect of Coulomb interactions on relic neutrino detection via beta decaying impurities in (semi)metals

Abstract

Measuring the electron neutrino mass is a long-standing objective and requires a high energy resolution of certain $β$-decay experiments, as well as a visible cosmic neutrino background (C$ν$B) spectrum. Many quantum mechanical and chemical effects could potentially impair the required resolution/visibility, e.g., the Coulomb interactions between the electrons in the $β$-decaying impurity and in the solid-state environment. We analyze the effect when hybridization is suppressed completely using a dielectric spacer, and also when hybridization is present up to the lowest nontrivial order in perturbation theory.