The discrete quantum properties of matter are manifest in a variety of phenomena. Any particle that is trapped in a sufficiently deep and wide potential well is settled in quantum bound states. For example, the existence of quantum states of electrons in an electromagnetic field is responsible for the structure of atoms, and quantum states of nucleons in a strong nuclear field give rise to the structure of atomic nuclei. In an analogous way, the gravitational field should lead to the formation of quantum states. But the gravitational force is extremely weak compared to the electromagnetic and nuclear force, so the observation of quantum states of matter in a gravitational field is extremely challenging. Because of their charge neutrality and long lifetime, neutrons are promising candidates with which to observe such an effect. Here we report experimental evidence for gravitational quantum bound states of neutrons. The particles are allowed to fall towards a horizontal mirror which, together with the Earth's gravitational field, provides the necessary confining potential well. Under such conditions, the falling neutrons do not move continuously along the vertical direction, but rather jump from one height to another, as predicted by quantum theory.
The lowest stationary quantum state of neutrons in the Earth's gravitational field is identified in the measurement of neutron transmission between a horizontal mirror on the bottom and an absorber/scatterer on top. Such an assembly is not transparent for neutrons if the absorber height is smaller than the ''height'' of the lowest quantum state.
We have studied neutron quantum states in the potential well formed by the earth's gravitational field and a horizontal mirror. The estimated characteristic sizes of the neutron wave functions in the two lowest quantum states correspond to expectations with an experimental accuracy. A position-sensitive neutron detector with an extra-high spatial resolution of ~2 µm was developed and tested for this particular experiment, to be used to measure the spatial density distribution in a standing neutron wave above a mirror for a set of some of the lowest quantum states. The present experiment can be used to set an upper limit for an additional short-range fundamental force. We studied methodological uncertainties as well as the feasibility of improving further the accuracy of this experiment.PACs Codes: 03.65, 28.20
The available data on neutron scattering were analysed to constrain a hypothetical new shortrange interaction. We show that these constraints are several orders of magnitude better than those usually cited in the range between 1 pm and 5 nm. This distance range occupies an intermediate space between collider searches for strongly coupled heavy bosons and searches for new weak macroscopic forces. We emphasise the reliability of the neutron contraints in so far as they provide several independent strategies. We have identified the most promising way to improve them.
We present estimations of systematic corrections and results of their experimental studies for our neutron lifetime experiment carried out in 2008-2010 at ILL. Taking into account these systematic corrections, we reduce the data of three independent sets of measurements (obtained during period 2008-2010) performed with different energy spectra of ultracold neutrons (UCNs) at different trap temperatures to the mean neutron lifetime value equal to 880.2(1.2) s.
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