Definitive Detection of Orbital Angular Momentum States in Neutrons by Spin-polarized $^3$He
Abstract
A standard method to detect thermal neutrons is the nuclear interaction He(n,p)H. The spin-dependence of this interaction is also the basis of a neutron spin-polarization filter using nuclear polarized He. We consider the corresponding interaction for neutrons placed in an intrinsic orbital angular momentum (OAM) state. We derive the relative polarization-dependent absorption cross-sections for neutrons in an OAM state. The absorption of those neutrons results in compound states , , and . Varying the three available polarizations tests that an OAM neutron has been absorbed and probes which decay states are physically possible. We describe the energetically likely excited states of He after absorption, due to the fact that the compound state has odd parity. This provides a definitive method for detecting neutron OAM states and suggests that intrinsic OAM states offer the possibility to observe new physics, including anomalous cross-sections and new channels of radioactive decay.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2109.07454,
title = {Definitive Detection of Orbital Angular Momentum States in Neutrons by Spin-polarized $^3$He},
author = {Terrence Jach and John Vinson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.07454},
year = {2022}
}