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Measurement of the free neutron lifetime using the neutron spectrometer on NASA's Lunar Prospector mission

Wilson, Jack T.; Lawrence, David J.; Peplowski, Patrick N.; Eke, Vincent R.; Kegerreis, Jacob A.

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Authors

Jack T. Wilson

David J. Lawrence

Patrick N. Peplowski



Abstract

We use data from the Lunar Prospector Neutron Spectrometer to make the second space-based measurement of the free neutron lifetime finding τ n = 887 ± 14 stat + 7 − 3 syst s, which is within 1 σ of the accepted value. This measurement expands the range of planetary bodies where the neutron lifetime has been quantified from space, and by extending the modeling to account for nonuniform elemental composition, we mitigated a significant source of systematic uncertainty on the previous space-based lifetime measurement. This modeling moves space-based neutron lifetime measurement towards the ultimate goal of reducing the magnitude of the systematics on a future space-measurement to the level of those seen in laboratory-based experiments.

Citation

Wilson, J. T., Lawrence, D. J., Peplowski, P. N., Eke, V. R., & Kegerreis, J. A. (2021). Measurement of the free neutron lifetime using the neutron spectrometer on NASA's Lunar Prospector mission. Physical Review C, 104(4), Article 045501. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.104.045501

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 2, 2021
Online Publication Date Oct 13, 2021
Publication Date 2021-10
Deposit Date Dec 8, 2021
Publicly Available Date Dec 8, 2021
Journal Physical Review C
Print ISSN 2469-9985
Electronic ISSN 2469-9993
Publisher American Physical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 104
Issue 4
Article Number 045501
DOI https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.104.045501
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1220599

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Published Journal Article (2.7 Mb)
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.






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