Signal Processing and Spectral Modeling for the BeEST Experiment

The Beryllium Electron capture in Superconducting Tunnel junctions (BeEST) experiment searches for evidence of heavy neutrino mass eigenstates in the nuclear electron capture decay of ^7Be by precisely measuring the recoil energy of the ^7Li daughter. In Phase-III, the BeEST experiment has been scaled from a single superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) sensor to a 36-pixel array to increase sensitivity and mitigate gamma-induced backgrounds. Phase-III also uses a new continuous data acquisition system that greatly increases the flexibility for signal processing and data cleaning. We have developed procedures for signal processing and spectral fitting that are sufficiently robust to be automated for large data sets. This article presents the optimized procedures before unblinding the majority of the Phase-III data set to search for physics beyond the standard model.