Measurement of the neutron lifetime with ultra-cold neutrons stored in a magneto-gravitational trap

V.F. Ezhov , A.Z. Andreev , G. Ban (1) , B.A. Bazarov , P. Geltenbort (2) , A.G. Glushkov , V.A. Knyazkov , N.A. Kovrizhnykh , G.B. Krygin , O. Naviliat-Cuncic (1) , V.L. Ryabov

1 LPCC - Laboratoire de physique corpusculaire de Caen
2 ILL - Institut Laue-Langevin

We report a measurement of the neutron lifetime using ultracold neutrons stored in a magneto-gravitational trap made of permanent magnets. Neutrons surviving in the trap after fixed storage times have been counted and the trap losses have continuously been monitored during storage by detecting neutrons leaking from the trap. The value of the neutron lifetime resulting from this measurement is τ$_{n}$ = (878.3 ± 1.6$_{stat}$ ± 1.0$_{syst}$) A unique feature of this experiment is the monitoring of leaking neutrons providing a robust control of the main systematic loss.

Mots clés: 23.40.-s; 23.40.Bw; 24.80.+y; n: lifetime; precision measurement; solenoid; magnet; n: beam; experimental results; capture; magnetostatic; gravitation; S017T

Domaines: Physique Nucléaire Expérimentale [nucl-ex]; Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]

V.F. Ezhov, A.Z. Andreev, G. Ban, B.A. Bazarov, P. Geltenbort, et al.. Measurement of the neutron lifetime with ultra-cold neutrons stored in a magneto-gravitational trap. JETP Lett., 2018, 107 (11), pp.671-675. ⟨10.1134/S0021364018110024⟩. ⟨hal-01862050⟩