Possible Systematic Effects in Fomblin Coated Storage Cell Neutron Lifetime Measurements

Abstract

A new neutron lifetime experiment employing frozen Fomblin has produced a result in significant disagreement with previous experiments that used liquid Fomblin near room temperature. This new experiment is subject to very few corrections, so the source of the discrepancy is a mystery. Here we theoretically investigate several possible systematic effects for near-room-temperature storage experiments. By considering the combined effect of gravity with the usual ultracold neutron losses together with surface wave scattering loss and ultracold spectral evoltuion, a correction to a previous neutron lifetime experiment is found to be insignificantly small.