A Novel Technique of Extracting UCN Decay Lifetime from Storage Chamber Measurements Dominated by Scattering Losses
The neutron’s lifetime is a critical parameter in the standard model. Its measurements, particularly measurements using both beamline and ultracold neutron storage techniques, have revealed significant tension. In this work, we review the status of the tension between various measurements,...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2023
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152534 |
| _version_ | 1811088962026995712 |
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| author | Mohanmurthy, Prajwal Formaggio, Joseph Salvat, Daniel J. Winger, Jeff A. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science Mohanmurthy, Prajwal Formaggio, Joseph Salvat, Daniel J. Winger, Jeff A. |
| author_sort | Mohanmurthy, Prajwal |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The neutron’s lifetime is a critical parameter in the standard model. Its measurements, particularly measurements using both beamline and ultracold neutron storage techniques, have revealed significant tension. In this work, we review the status of the tension between various measurements, especially in light of the insights provided by the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>β</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>-decay correlation measurements. We revisit the lifetime measurement in a material storage chamber, dominated by losses from scattering off the walls of the storage chamber. The neutron energy spectra and associated uncertainties were, for the first time, well-characterized using storage data alone. Such models have applications in the extraction of the mean time between wall bounces, which is a key parameter for neutron storage disappearance experiments in search of neutron oscillation. A comparison between the loss model and the number of neutrons stored in a single chamber allowed us to extract a neutron lifetime of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msubsup><mi>τ</mi><mi>n</mi><mo>*</mo></msubsup><mo>=</mo><mn>880</mn><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><msub><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mo>+</mo><mn>158</mn></mrow><mo>/</mo><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>78</mn></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mi>stat</mi><mo>.</mo></mrow></msub><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><msub><mrow><mo>(</mo><mo>+</mo><mn>230</mn><mo>/</mo><mo>−</mo><mn>114</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mi>sys</mi><mo>.</mo></mrow></msub><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mi mathvariant="normal">s</mi><mo> </mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>68.3</mn><mo>%</mo><mo> </mo><mi mathvariant="normal">C</mi><mo>.</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">I</mi><mo>.</mo><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. Though the uncertainty of this lifetime is not competitive with currently available measurements, the highlight of this work is that we precisely identified the systematic sources of uncertainty that contribute to the neutron lifetime measurements in material storage bottles, namely from the uncertainty in the energy spectra, as well as from the storage chamber surface parameters of the Fermi potential and loss per bounce. In doing so, we highlight the underestimation of the uncertainties in the previous Monte Carlo simulations of experiments using the technique of ultracold neutron storage in material bottles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:10:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/152534 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:10:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1525342024-01-22T21:44:41Z A Novel Technique of Extracting UCN Decay Lifetime from Storage Chamber Measurements Dominated by Scattering Losses Mohanmurthy, Prajwal Formaggio, Joseph Salvat, Daniel J. Winger, Jeff A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science The neutron’s lifetime is a critical parameter in the standard model. Its measurements, particularly measurements using both beamline and ultracold neutron storage techniques, have revealed significant tension. In this work, we review the status of the tension between various measurements, especially in light of the insights provided by the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>β</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>-decay correlation measurements. We revisit the lifetime measurement in a material storage chamber, dominated by losses from scattering off the walls of the storage chamber. The neutron energy spectra and associated uncertainties were, for the first time, well-characterized using storage data alone. Such models have applications in the extraction of the mean time between wall bounces, which is a key parameter for neutron storage disappearance experiments in search of neutron oscillation. A comparison between the loss model and the number of neutrons stored in a single chamber allowed us to extract a neutron lifetime of <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msubsup><mi>τ</mi><mi>n</mi><mo>*</mo></msubsup><mo>=</mo><mn>880</mn><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><msub><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mo>+</mo><mn>158</mn></mrow><mo>/</mo><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>78</mn></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mi>stat</mi><mo>.</mo></mrow></msub><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><msub><mrow><mo>(</mo><mo>+</mo><mn>230</mn><mo>/</mo><mo>−</mo><mn>114</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow><mrow><mi>sys</mi><mo>.</mo></mrow></msub><mspace width="3.33333pt"></mspace><mi mathvariant="normal">s</mi><mo> </mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>68.3</mn><mo>%</mo><mo> </mo><mi mathvariant="normal">C</mi><mo>.</mo><mi mathvariant="normal">I</mi><mo>.</mo><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>. Though the uncertainty of this lifetime is not competitive with currently available measurements, the highlight of this work is that we precisely identified the systematic sources of uncertainty that contribute to the neutron lifetime measurements in material storage bottles, namely from the uncertainty in the energy spectra, as well as from the storage chamber surface parameters of the Fermi potential and loss per bounce. In doing so, we highlight the underestimation of the uncertainties in the previous Monte Carlo simulations of experiments using the technique of ultracold neutron storage in material bottles. 2023-10-27T19:02:50Z 2023-10-27T19:02:50Z 2023-10-10 2023-10-27T10:26:56Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152534 Symmetry 15 (10): 1899 (2023) PUBLISHER_CC http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/sym15101899 Creative Commons Attribution https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| spellingShingle | Mohanmurthy, Prajwal Formaggio, Joseph Salvat, Daniel J. Winger, Jeff A. A Novel Technique of Extracting UCN Decay Lifetime from Storage Chamber Measurements Dominated by Scattering Losses |
| title | A Novel Technique of Extracting UCN Decay Lifetime from Storage Chamber Measurements Dominated by Scattering Losses |
| title_full | A Novel Technique of Extracting UCN Decay Lifetime from Storage Chamber Measurements Dominated by Scattering Losses |
| title_fullStr | A Novel Technique of Extracting UCN Decay Lifetime from Storage Chamber Measurements Dominated by Scattering Losses |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Novel Technique of Extracting UCN Decay Lifetime from Storage Chamber Measurements Dominated by Scattering Losses |
| title_short | A Novel Technique of Extracting UCN Decay Lifetime from Storage Chamber Measurements Dominated by Scattering Losses |
| title_sort | novel technique of extracting ucn decay lifetime from storage chamber measurements dominated by scattering losses |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/152534 |
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