Related papers: Measuring the Neutron Lifetime Using Magnetically …
We investigate the possibility of ultracold neutron (UCN) storage in quantum states defined by the combined potentials of the Earth's gravity and the neutron optical repulsion by a horizontal surface of liquid helium. We analyse the…
To increase the storage time of ultracold neutrons (UCN) inside the material traps it is promising to cover the trap walls by liquid 4He, the material which does not absorb neutrons at all. A rough side wall of UCN trap holds the required…
We derive new constraints on the neutron lifetime based on the recent Planck 2015 observations of temperature and polarization anisotropies of the CMB. Under the assumption of standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, we show that Planck data…
The past two decades have yielded several new measurements and reanalysis of older measurements of the neutron lifetime. These have led to a 4.4 standard deviation discrepancy between the most precise measurements of the neutron decay rate…
We summarize our recent proposal of explaining the discrepancy between the bottle and beam measurements of the neutron lifetime through the existence of a dark sector, which the neutron can decay to with a branching fraction 1%. We show…
Ultracold neutrons (UCN) are free neutrons that can be stored in experimental setups for several minutes. Some of the most important properties of the neutron, such as its tiny permanent electric dipole moment and its beta decay lifetime,…
The recent measurement of the lifetime of the free neutron using the beam method has an 8.7 s (4$\sigma$) discrepancy with UCN measurements. The goal of the BL3 experiment is to improve the statistical error of this measurement and help…
The lifetime of free neutrons measured in the lab has a long standing disparity of $\sim$9~s. A space-based technique has recently been proposed to independently measure the neutron lifetime using interactions between the galactic cosmic…
We measured the lifetime and the mesonic and non-mesonic decay rates of the 4He-Lambda hypernucleus. The hypernuclei were created using a 750 MeV/c momentum K- beam on a liquid 4He target by the reaction 4He(K-,pi-)4He-Lambda. The…
The neutron lifetime is one of the basic parameters in the weak interaction, and is used for predicting the light element abundance in the early universe. Our group developed a new setup to measure the lifetime with the goal precision of…
Neutron beta decay is one of the most fundamental processes in nuclear physics and provides sensitive means to uncover the details of the weak interaction. Neutron beta decay can evaluate the ratio of axial-vector to vector coupling…
Since neutrinos have mass differences, they could decay into one another. But their lifetimes are likely long, even when shortened by new physics, so decay likely impacts neutrinos only during long trips. This makes high-energy…
We report the first measurement of angular correlation parameters in neutron $\beta$-decay using polarized ultracold neutrons (UCN). We utilize UCN with energies below about 200 neV, which we guide and store for $\sim 30$ s in a Cu decay…
In the UCN{\tau} experiment, ultracold neutrons (UCN) are confined by magnetic fields and the Earth's gravitational field. Field-trapping mitigates the problem of UCN loss on material surfaces, which caused the largest correction in prior…
All results of the neutron lifetime measurements performed in the last 20 years with the UCN storage method are in a good agreement. These results are consistent with the latest most accurate measurements of the neutron decay asymmetry…
Research efforts ranging from studies of solid helium to searches for a neutron electric dipole moment require isotopically purified helium with a ratio of 3He to 4He at levels below that which can be measured using traditional mass…
Neutrinoless double-$\beta$ decay is of fundamental importance for determining the neutrino mass. Although double electron ($\beta^-\beta^-$) decay is the most promising mode, in very recent years interest in double positron…
We estimate the Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) constraint on the majoron in the mass range between $1\,{\rm MeV}$ to $10\,{\rm GeV}$ which dominantly decays into the standard model neutrinos. When the majoron lifetime is shorter than…
This paper reviews the puzzles in modern neutron lifetime measurements and related unitarity issues in the CKM matrix. It is not a comprehensive and unbiased compilation of all historic data and studies, but rather a focus on compelling…
Experimental studies of neutron decay, $n\to pe\bar\nu$, exhibit two anomalies. The first is a 8.6(2.1)s, roughly $4\sigma$ difference between the average beam measured neutron lifetime, $\tau_n^\text{beam}=888.0(2.0)$s, and the more…