EPJ Web of Conferences (Jan 2019)

Progress on the BL2 beam measurement of the neutron lifetime

  • Hoogerheide Shannon F.,
  • Caylor Jimmy,
  • Adamek Evan R.,
  • Anderson Eamon S.,
  • Biswas Ripan,
  • Chavali Sai Meghasena,
  • Crawford Bret,
  • DeAngelis Christina,
  • Dewey Maynard S.,
  • Fomin Nadia,
  • Gilliam David M.,
  • Grammer Kyle B.,
  • Greene Geoffrey L.,
  • Haun Robert W.,
  • Ivanov Juliet A.,
  • Li Fangchen,
  • Mulholland Jonathan,
  • Mumm H. Pieter,
  • Nico Jeffrey S.,
  • Snow William M.,
  • Valete Daniel,
  • Wietfeldt Fred E.,
  • Yue Andrew T.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201921903002
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 219
p. 03002

Abstract

Read online

A precise value of the neutron lifetime is important in several areas of physics, including determinations of the quark-mixing matrix element |Vud|, related tests of the Standard Model, and predictions of light element abundances in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis models. We report the progress on a new measurement of the neutron lifetime utilizing the cold neutron beam technique. Several experimental improvements in both neutron and proton counting that have been developed over the last decade are presented. This new effort should yield a final uncertainty on the lifetime of 1 s with an improved understanding of the systematic effects.