JETP Letters: issues online

VOLUME 107 (2018) | ISSUE 11 | PAGE 707

Measurement of the neutron lifetime with ultra-cold neutrons stored in a magneto-gravitational trap

V. F. Ezhov^a,b, A. Z. Andreev^a, G. Ban^c, B. A. Bazarov^a, P. Geltenbort^d, A. G. Glushkov^a, V. A. Knyazkov^a, N. A. Kovrizhnykh^e, G. B. Krygin^a, O. Naviliat-Cuncic^c,f, V. L. Ryabov^a
^aPetersburg Nuclear Physics Institute named by B.P. Konstantinov of National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute",
188300 Gatchina, Russia
^bSaint Petersburg State University, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia
^cUniversité de Caen Normandie, 14032, Caen, France
^dInstitut Laue-Langevin, 38042 Grenoble, France
^eD.V. Efremov Scientific Research Institute of Electrophysical Apparatus, 196641 Saint Petersburg, Russia
^fNational Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory Michigan State University, 48824 East Lansing, Michigan, USA

DOI: 10.7868/S0370274X18110036

Abstract
We report a measurement of the neutron lifetime using ultra-cold neutrons stored in a magneto-gravitational trap made of permanent magnets. Neutrons surviving in the trap after fixed storage times have been counted and the trap losses have continuously been monitored during storage by detecting neutrons leaking from the trap. The value of the neutron lifetime resulting from this measurement is $\tau_n = (878.3\pm 1.6_{\text{stat}}\pm 1.0_{\text{syst}})$ s. A unique feature of this experiment is the monitoring of leaking neutrons providing a robust control of the main systematic loss.

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