A new method for measuring the neutron lifetime using an in situ neutron detector

Morris, C. L.; Adamek, E. R.; Broussard, L. J.; Callahan, N. B.; Clayton, S. M.; Cude-Woods, C.; Currie, S. A.; Ding, X.; Fox, W.; Hickerson, K. P.; Hoffbauer, M. A.; Holley, A. T.; Komives, A.; Liu, C. -Y.; Makela, M.; Pattie, Jr., R. W.; Ramsey, J.; Salvat, D. J.; Saunders, A.; Seestrom, S. J.; Sharapov, E. I.; Sjue, S. K.; Tang, Z.; Vanderwerp, J.; Vogelaar, B.; Walstrom, P. L.; Wang, Z.; Wei, Wanchun; Wexler, J. W.; Womack, T. L.; Young, A. R.; Zeck, B. A.

doi:10.1063/1.4983578

Title: A new method for measuring the neutron lifetime using an in situ neutron detector

Journal Article · Tue May 30 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4983578· OSTI ID:1361895

^[1]; Adamek, E. R. ^[2];

^[3]; Callahan, N. B. ^[2];

^[1]; Cude-Woods, C. ^[4]; Currie, S. A. ^[1];

^[5]; Fox, W. ^[2]; Hickerson, K. P. ^[6]; Hoffbauer, M. A. ^[1]; Holley, A. T. ^[7]; Komives, A. ^[8]; Liu, C. -Y. ^[2]; Makela, M. ^[1]; Pattie, Jr., R. W. ^[1]; Ramsey, J. ^[1]; Salvat, D. J. ^[9]; Saunders, A. ^[1]; Seestrom, S. J. ^[1] more »

Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
Department of Physics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47408, USA
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA
Department of Physics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
Department of Physics, Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville, Tennessee 38505, USA
Department of Physics, DePauw University, Greencastle Indiana 46135-0037, USA
Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Moscow Region 141980, Russia
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA, Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA

In this paper, we describe a new method for measuring surviving neutrons in neutron lifetime measurements using bottled ultracold neutrons (UCN), which provides better characterization of systematic uncertainties and enables higher precision than previous measurement techniques. An active detector that can be lowered into the trap has been used to measure the neutron distribution as a function of height and measure the influence of marginally trapped UCN on the neutron lifetime measurement. In addition, measurements have demonstrated phase-space evolution and its effect on the lifetime measurement.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; FG02-97ER41042; AC52-06NA25396

OSTI ID:: 1361895

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1361319; OSTI ID: 1363969; OSTI ID: 1364545

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-16-27352; RSINAK; 10.1063/1.4983578

Journal Information:: Review of Scientific Instruments, Journal Name: Review of Scientific Instruments Vol. 88 Journal Issue: 5; ISSN 0034-6748

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 11 works

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Monte Carlo simulations of trapped ultracold neutrons in the $UCN τ$ experiment Callahan, Nathan; Liu, Chen-Yu; Gonzalez, Francisco Physical Review C, Vol. 100, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.100.015501	journal	July 2019
Tritium $β$ decay in pionless effective field theory De-Leon, Hilla; Platter, Lucas; Gazit, Doron Physical Review C, Vol. 100, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.100.055502	journal	November 2019
Measurements of the Neutron Lifetime Wietfeldt, F. Atoms, Vol. 6, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.3390/atoms6040070	journal	December 2018
Measurement of the neutron lifetime using a magneto-gravitational trap and in situ detection Pattie, R. W.; Callahan, N. B.; Cude-Woods, C. Science, Vol. 360, Issue 6389 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan8895	journal	May 2018

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