On the measurement of the neutron lifetime using ultracold neutrons in a vacuum quadrupole trap
Abstract
We present a conceptual design for an experiment to measure the neutron lifetime (~886 s) with an accuracy of 10-4. The lifetime will be measured by observing the decay rate of a sample of ultracold neutrons (UCN) confined in vacuum in a magnetic trap. The UCN collaboration at Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a prototype UCN source that is expected to produce a bottled UCN density of more than 100/cm3. The availability of such an intense source makes it possible to approach the measurement of the neutron lifetime in a new way. We argue below that it is possible to measure the neutron lifetime to 10-4 in a vacuum magnetic trap. The measurement involves no new technology beyond the expected UCN density. If even higher densities are available, the experiment can be made better and/or less expensive. We present the design and methodology for the measurement. The slow loss of neutrons that have stable orbits, but are not energetically trapped would produce a systematic uncertainty in the measurement. We discuss a new approach, chaotic cleaning, to the elimination of quasi-neutrons from the trap by breaking the rotational symmetry of the quadrupole trap. The neutron orbits take on a chaoticmore »
- Authors:
-
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1628761
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 110; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1044-677X
- Publisher:
- National Institute of Standards (NIST)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Instruments & Instrumentation; Physics; chaos; neutron lifetime; neutron trap; quadrupole trap; ultra cold neutrons
Citation Formats
Bowman, J. D., and Penttila, S. I. On the measurement of the neutron lifetime using ultracold neutrons in a vacuum quadrupole trap. United States: N. p., 2005.
Web. doi:10.6028/jres.110.054.
Bowman, J. D., & Penttila, S. I. On the measurement of the neutron lifetime using ultracold neutrons in a vacuum quadrupole trap. United States. https://doi.org/10.6028/jres.110.054
Bowman, J. D., and Penttila, S. I. Fri .
"On the measurement of the neutron lifetime using ultracold neutrons in a vacuum quadrupole trap". United States. https://doi.org/10.6028/jres.110.054. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1628761.
@article{osti_1628761,
title = {On the measurement of the neutron lifetime using ultracold neutrons in a vacuum quadrupole trap},
author = {Bowman, J. D. and Penttila, S. I.},
abstractNote = {We present a conceptual design for an experiment to measure the neutron lifetime (~886 s) with an accuracy of 10-4. The lifetime will be measured by observing the decay rate of a sample of ultracold neutrons (UCN) confined in vacuum in a magnetic trap. The UCN collaboration at Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a prototype UCN source that is expected to produce a bottled UCN density of more than 100/cm3. The availability of such an intense source makes it possible to approach the measurement of the neutron lifetime in a new way. We argue below that it is possible to measure the neutron lifetime to 10-4 in a vacuum magnetic trap. The measurement involves no new technology beyond the expected UCN density. If even higher densities are available, the experiment can be made better and/or less expensive. We present the design and methodology for the measurement. The slow loss of neutrons that have stable orbits, but are not energetically trapped would produce a systematic uncertainty in the measurement. We discuss a new approach, chaotic cleaning, to the elimination of quasi-neutrons from the trap by breaking the rotational symmetry of the quadrupole trap. The neutron orbits take on a chaotic character and mode mixing causes the neutrons on the quasi-bound orbits to leave the trap.},
doi = {10.6028/jres.110.054},
journal = {Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology},
number = 4,
volume = 110,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2005},
month = {Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2005}
}
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journalWorks referenced in this record:
Physics Beyond the Standard Model: Proceedings of the Fifth International WEIN Symposium
conference, September 2017
- Herczeg, P.; Hoffman, C. M.; Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, H. V.
- Fifth International WEIN Symposium, Physics Beyond the Standard Model
Works referencing / citing this record:
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- Collaboration, Alpha
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- Zhong, M.; Fajans, J.; Zukor, A. F.
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