Jordan Sexton

Jordan Sexton

Biography

Jordan Sexton is a rising senior at Howard University from Dallas, Texas, studying
both Physics and Mathematics. He is a proud member of the 7th cohort of the Karsh STEM
Scholars Program at Howard, and he aspires to earn his Ph.D. in physics after completing his
undergraduate education. Jordan has a diverse and impressive record of research experience at
multiple universities, spanning reaction engineering of biopolymers, seismic wave simulation,
and proof-of-concept long-range Raman spectroscopy. Currently, he’s working under Prof.
Joseph Formaggio at MIT on reconstruction analysis for simulations modeled after the CRES
experiments of the Project 8 collaboration. He is intrigued by all of physics, but is most
interested in the interactions and properties of the smallest building blocks of the universe.
When he’s not studying or running simulations, Jordan’s competing for Howard Esports’ Mario
Kart team or finding new books for his reading list.

Event Reconstruction of the Project 8 Neutrino Mass Experiment
Jordan Sexton1, Junior Peña2, and Joseph Formaggio2
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Howard University
2Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Project 8 Experiment aims to probe the neutrino mass scale to a precision of 40 meV/
c^2 by analyzing the endpoint of the tritium beta-decay energy spectrum. The collaboration
pioneers the Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) technique—a method to
measure cyclotron frequencies of beta electrons through the electromagnetic radiation they
emit when gyrating due to an external magnetic field. By reconstructing the beta-decay
spectrum through the inverse relationship between electron kinetic energy and cyclotron
frequency, the collaboration can probe the neutrino mass scale. The current reconstruction
process does not account for the azimuthal asymmetry of CRES components, disregarding
features that can impact results. This study addresses the present gap by completing event
reconstruction for simulated CRES data that varies electron energy, axial momentum,
radial position, and azimuthal position, focusing on the effects of azimuthal variation on
the algorithm’s performance. This study adapts the existing pipeline to incorporate novel
simulation data and analyze azimuthal position impacts on interpolation frequency cuts,
energy residuals, and event band classification. A more complete understanding of electron
position effects within the CRES detection volume will help Project 8 improve both event
reconstruction and, consequently, the precision of energy measurements for neutrino mass
scale probing.