1.2-Million-Euro Funding for Neutron Lifetime Experiment

The measurement of neutron lifetime has received an important financial boost. The Universe Cluster is excited to announce that the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) has granted 1.2 million euros for a supra-conductive magnetic field array for the measurement of neutron lifetime. The new experimental setting improves the precision of lifetime measurements by the factor ten. This project is co-funded by the Universe Cluster and will be one of several experiments performed at the ultra-cold neutron source (UCN). The UCN is expected to start operation in 2010. 

Neutron lifetime is a key parameter in the formation of helium, hydrogen and lithium, the first chemical elements in the Universe. About 10 seconds after the big bang, protons and neutrons started to form the first atomic nuclei. This process is called „primordial nucleosynthesis“. In contrast to protons which have an almost unlimited lifetime, neutrons decay after about 885 seconds, making them the limiting factor in nucleosynthesis. However, the exact lifetime of the neutron could not be defined yet. In order to pin down the actual neutron lifetime, researchers are developing sophisticated tools making their measurements more and more precise.