[Triumf-seminars] TRIUMF Special Seminar today at 14:00

[TRIUMF Seminars]

Date/Time: Thu 2012-08-30 at 14:00

Location:  Auditorium          

Speaker:   Alexander Saunders (Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Title:     The Los Alamos Ultracold Neutron Science Program

Abstract: The Los Alamos ultracold neutron source, located at the LANSCE accelerator, supplies UCNs to a suite of experiments whose common goal is to search for physics beyond the standard model through neutron beta decay. The flagship effort is the UCNA experiment, now nearing completion, which measures the correlation between the neutron’s spin and decay electron. Interim results from the UCNA experiment, with a total relative uncertainty on A, the correlation coefficient, below 1%. The ultimate goal of the UCNA experiment is to reach a total uncertainty of 0.25%. At the same time, experiments are under development to measure the neutrino correlation coefficient (UCNB) and the Fierz interference term (UCNb) in neutron beta decay. The UCNB experiment will extract the neutrino momentum in beta decay by detecting the decay electron and proton in coincidence in high precision and dynamic range silicon detectors, while the UCNb experiment will measure the energy spectrum of the decay electrons using an integrating sphere of scintillators. Finally, the UCNtau experiment aims to measure the neutron lifetime by storing ultracold neutrons in a gravitomagnetic trap, which will eliminate the leading systematic uncertainty of recent neutron lifetime measurements, the effect of interactions between the stored neutrons and the walls of the trap. The status of all the experiments located at the Los Alamos UCN facility will be discussed, as well as prospects for future directions and growth of the program.

Stimulants available 15 minutes before the talk.

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