Eur. Phys. J. A (2006) 30: 603-611
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2006-10136-3

Interdisciplinary Topics

An experiment for the measurement of the bound- β-decay of the free neutron

¹ Physik Department, Technische Universität München, D-85748, Garching, Germany
² Institut für Angewandte Physik und Messtechnik, Universität der Bundeswehr München, D-85577, Neubiberg, Germany
³ Sektion Physik der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, D-85748, Garching, Germany

Received: 14 February 2006
Accepted: 23 October 2006
Published online: 4 December 2006

Abstract

The hyperfine-state population of hydrogen after the bound-β-decay of the neutron directly yields the neutrino left-handedness or a possible right-handed admixture and possible small scalar and tensor contributions to the weak force. Using the through-going beam tube of a high-flux reactor, a background free hydrogen rate of ca. 3s^-1 can be obtained. The detection of the neutral hydrogen atoms and the analysis of the hyperfine states is accomplished by Lamb shift source type quenching and subsequent ionization. The constraints on the neutrino helicity and the scalar and tensor coupling constants of the weak interaction can be improved by a factor of ten.