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[2026-10-16] · src KATRIN, Science (2025), arXiv:2406.13516 (bound as reported in secondary summaries, paper not re-read this run); Σm_ν < 0.053 eV from a 2026 conference slide citing DESI DR2 BAO + CMB, primary not read
KATRIN's direct kinematic limit on the effective electron-antineutrino mass is m_β < 0.45 eV at 90% C.L., from 259 days of tritium β-decay data and roughly 36 million electrons near the endpoint, which roughly halves the earlier 0.8 eV ceiling. Cosmology is tighter by an order of magnitude: a conference slide quotes Σm_ν < 0.053 eV from DESI DR2 BAO combined with CMB, against an oscillation-derived minimum of Σm_ν > 0.059 eV (normal ordering), i.e. the quoted cosmological limit sits below the floor oscillations impose. The slide labels this a "3σ tension"; that figure and the exact dataset combination should be checked against the DESI paper before being carried, since DESI's own headline limits are looser than 0.053 eV.
The two routes measure different things: KATRIN is model-independent kinematics, cosmology is a Σm_ν inference that depends on ΛCDM and on assuming a non-evolving dark energy. A cosmological bound below the oscillation floor therefore points at the cosmological model before it points at the neutrino. KATRIN's final sensitivity target (~0.3 eV) cannot reach the regime where they overlap, so the direct route will not arbitrate this soon; Project 8 (CRES, goal ~40 meV, so far only a 155 eV limit) is the one that could. Very little changes today; this is a bookkeeping entry on a standing question.
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[2026-10-16] · src —
Alto takes today: three days since it was last assigned, the longest gap of the three, and trumpet was assigned yesterday. With no method book chosen yet, this is a fundamentals session and the target is an even, centred sound with clean connections between neighbouring notes. F major is new this week, so it is the key for the scale work.
6 minutes: long tones on written low B-flat, C, D and E-flat, 10 counts each at quarter = 60, mp, each started with a soft tongue and held without drifting in pitch. Then 4 minutes of overtones off low B-flat: voice the first, second and third partials, each held 4 counts at p.
F major scale, two octaves, in thirds (F-A, G-B-flat, A-C, and so on up and back), slurred, at quarter = 66, then 76, then 88. Success criterion: three consecutive clean passes at each tempo with every interval speaking on the first try and no change in tone between the lower and upper notes.
Play the first four bars of any standard you know by ear in F, twice: first plainly, then shaping each phrase toward a single high point and letting the tail of the phrase relax. The second pass should sound like one breath per phrase.
About 25 minutes. Stop when the embouchure tires, the tone thins or the pitch starts to sag, even if 88 is not reached; stopping early with a good sound beats finishing ragged.
[2026-10-16] · src —
hearArt Pepper — Straight Life · Tidal · Spotify
An alto sound with an urgent edge, played over a fast, dense line. Listen for how Pepper keeps the tone full and centred through the quick runs, and how the notes in the lower register speak as cleanly as the upper ones. That evenness across the range, at speed, is what the long tones and scale in thirds are building.