Search

We report progress on an experiment to measure the neutron lifetime using magnetically trapped neutrons. Neutrons are loaded into a 1.1 T deep super-conducting Ioffe-type trap by scattering 0.89 nm neutrons in isotopically pure superfluid 4He. Neutron decays are detected in real time using the scintillation light produced in the helium by the beta-decay electrons. The measured trap lifetime at a helium temperature of 300 mK and with no ameliorative magnetic ramping is substantially shorter than the free neutron lifetime. This is attributed to the presence of neutrons with energies higher than the magnetic potential of the trap. Magnetic field ramping is implemented to eliminate these neutrons, resulting in an 833 +63+74s trap lifetime, consistent with the currently accepted value of the free neutron lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compute classical trajectories of Ultracold neutrons (UCNs) in a superconducting Ioffe-type magnetic trap using a symplectic integration method. We find that the computed escape time for a particular set of initial conditions (momentum and position) does not generally stabilize as the time step parameter is reduced unless the escape time is short (less than approximately 10 s). For energy intervals where more than half of the escape times computed for UCN realizations are numerically well determined, we predict the median escape time as a function of the midpoint of the interval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]