On the measurement of the neutron lifetime using ultracold neutrons in a vacuum quadrupole trap

Abstract

We present a conceptual design for an experiment to measure the neutron lifetime (∼886 s) with an accuracy of 10-4. The lifetime will be measured by observing the decay rate of a sample of ultracold neutrons (UCN) confined in vacuum in a magnetic trap. The UCN collaboration at Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a prototype UCN source that is expected to produce a bottled UCN density of more than 100/cm3 [1]. The availability of such an intense source makes it possible to approach the measurement of the neutron lifetime in a new way. We argue below that it is possible to measure the neutron lifetime to 10-4 in a vacuum magnetic trap. The measurement involves no new technology beyond the expected UCN density. If even higher densities are available, the experiment can be made better and/or less expensive. We present the design and methodology for the measurement. The slow loss of neutrons that have stable orbits, but are not energetically trapped would produce a systematic uncertainty in the measurement. We discuss a new approach, chaotic cleaning, to the elimination of quasi-neutrons from the trap by breaking the rotational symmetry of the quadrupole trap. The neutron orbits take on a chaotic character and mode mixing causes the neutrons on the quasi-bound orbits to leave the trap.