Magnetic guidance of charged particles

Abstract

Many experiments and devices in physics use static magnetic fields to guide charged particles from a source onto a detector, and we ask the innocent question: What is the distribution of particle intensity over the detector surface? One should think that the solution to this seemingly simple problem is well known. We show that, even for uniform guide fields, this is not the case and present analytical point spread functions (PSF) for magnetic transport that deviate strongly from previous results. The "magnetic" PSF shows unexpected singularities, which were recently also observed experimentally, and which make detector response very sensitive to minute changes of position, field amplitude, or particle energy. In the field of low-energy particle physics, these singularities may become a source of error in modern high precision experiments, or may be used for instrument tests, for instance in neutrino mass retardation spectrometers.

16 pages, 5 figures, version 2: improved approximation method

References in corpus (6)

• Current Direct Neutrino Mass Experiments
• Precision Measurement of the Neutron Beta-Decay Asymmetry
• Project X: Physics Opportunities
• First detection and energy measurement of recoil ions following beta decay in a Penning trap with the WITCH experiment
• Radial distribution of charged particles in a magnetic field
• Comments on the radial distribution of charged particles in a magnetic field

Cited by in corpus (6)

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• Limit on the Fierz Interference Term b from a Measurement of the Beta Asymmetry in Neutron Decay
• Undetected Electron Backscattering in PERKEO III
• Comments on the radial distribution of charged particles in a magnetic field
• Study of silicon photomultipliers for use in neutron decay experiments
• Characterization of electron detectors by time-of-flight in neutron \b{eta} decay experiments