Using Nab to determine correlations in unpolarized neutron decay

Abstract

The Nab experiment will measure the ratio of the weak axial-vector and vector coupling constants $\lambda =g_A/g_V$ with precision $\delta \lambda /\lambda \sim 3\times 10^{-4}$ and search for a Fierz term $b_F$ at a level $\Delta b_F<10^{-3}$. The Nab detection system uses thick, large area, segmented silicon detectors to very precisely determine the decay proton's time of flight and the decay electron's energy in coincidence and reconstruct the correlation between the antineutrino and electron momenta. Excellent understanding of systematic effects affecting timing and energy reconstruction using this detection system are required. To explore these effects, a series of ex situ studies have been undertaken, including a search for a Fierz term at a less sensitive level of $\Delta b_F<10^{-2}$ in the beta decay of ${}^{45}$Ca using the UCNA spectrometer.

Proceedings of the 7th International Syposium on Symmetries in Subatomic Physics SSP2018, Aachen (Germany), 10 - 15 Jun 2018. This is a pre-print of an article published in Hyperfine Interactions. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10751-018-1538-7

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