Affiliation:
1. Theoretical Division (MS-B285), Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
2. Space and Atmospheric Sciences (MS-D466), Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
Abstract
If the Standard Model is correct, and fundamental fermions exist only in the three generations, then the CKM matrix should be unitary. However, there remains a question over a deviation from unitarity from the value of the neutron lifetime. We discuss a simple space-based experiment that, at an orbit height of 500 km above Earth, would measure the kinetic-energy, solid-angle, flux spectrum of gravitationally bound neutrons (kinetic energy K< 0.606 eV at this altitude). The difference between the energy spectrum of neutrons that come up from the Earth's atmosphere and that of the undecayed neutrons that return back down to the Earth would yield a measurement of the neutron lifetime. This measurement would be free of the systematics of laboratory experiments. A package of mass < 25 kg could provide a 10-3 precision in two years.
Publisher
World Scientific Pub Co Pte Lt
Subject
General Physics and Astronomy,Astronomy and Astrophysics,Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Cited by
4 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献