aCORN: An experiment to measure the electron-antineutrino correlation coefficient in free neutron decay

Rev Sci Instrum. 2017 Aug;88(8):083503. doi: 10.1063/1.4996542.

Abstract

We describe an apparatus used to measure the electron-antineutrino angular correlation coefficient in free neutron decay. The apparatus employs a novel measurement technique in which the angular correlation is converted into a proton time-of-flight asymmetry that is counted directly, avoiding the need for proton spectroscopy. Details of the method, apparatus, detectors, data acquisition, and data reduction scheme are presented, along with a discussion of the important systematic effects.