Measurements of ultracold neutron upscattering and absorption in polyethylene and vanadium

Abstract

The study of neutron cross sections for elements used as efficient "absorbers" of ultracold neutrons (UCN) is crucial for many precision experiments in nuclear and particle physics, cosmology and gravity. In this context, "absorption" includes both the capture and upscattering of neutrons to the energies above the UCN energy region. The available data, especially for hydrogen, do not agree between themselves or with the theory. In this report we describe measurements performed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory UCN facility of the UCN upscattering cross sections for vanadium and for hydrogen in CH_2 using simultaneous measurements of the radiative capture cross sections for these elements. We measured σ_(up)=1972±130 b for hydrogen in CH_2, which is below theoretical expectations, and σ_(up)=25±9 b for vanadium, in agreement with the expectation for the neutron heating by thermal excitations in solids.

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