A Precision Measurement of Neutron {beta}-Decay Angular Correlations with Pulsed Cold Neutrons -- The abBA Experiment

Journal Article · Tue May 24 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1945106· OSTI ID:20722659

Seo, P -N; Bowman, J D; O'Donnell, J M; Mitchell, G S; Penttilae, S I; Wilburn, W S ^[1]; Calarco, J R; Hersman, F W ^[2]; Chupp, T E ^[3]; Cianciolo, T V; Rykaczewski, K P; Young, G R ^[4]; Desai, D; Grzywacz, R K ^[5]; Souza, R.T. de; Snow, W M ^[6]; Frlez, E; Pocanic, D ^[7]; Gentile, T ^[8]; Greene, G L ^[4]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)
2. Department of Physics, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 (United States)
3. Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (United States)
4. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 (United States)
5. Department of Physics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996 (United States)
6. Department of Physics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 (United States)
7. Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904 (United States)
8. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (United States)

The abBA collaboration is developing a new type of field-expansion spectrometer to measure neutron beta decay angular parameters, a, b, B, and A, to the 0.1% precision level. This precision will be achieved by combining three new technical approaches; a pulsed cold neutron beam, a 3He neutron spin filter, and segmented large-area thin-dead layer silicon detectors. Both the electron and proton resulting from the decay will be guided by electric and magnetic fields and detected in coincidence by two 2{pi} solid-angle silicon detectors. For the neutron polarization-dependent observables A and B, a novel precision neutron polarimetry technique has been developed. The parameters a and b will be obtained from the proton time-of-flight and the measured electron energy spectrum. Measurement of the four parameters in the same apparatus provides a redundant determination of parameter {lambda}=gA/gV, providing a test of the standard electroweak interaction.

• OSTI ID: 20722659
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 769; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ACCURACY
ANGULAR CORRELATION
BETA DECAY
COLD NEUTRONS
ELECTRONS
ENERGY SPECTRA
HELIUM 3
MAGNETIC FIELDS
NEUTRON BEAMS
POLARIMETRY
POLARIZATION
PROTONS
SI SEMICONDUCTOR DETECTORS
SPIN
TIME-OF-FLIGHT METHOD