Monte Carlo Study of the abBA Experiment: Detector Response and Physics Analysis

TL;DR

This paper uses Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate detector response and systematic uncertainties in measuring neutron beta-decay coefficients at a cold neutron beam facility.

Contribution

It introduces a GEANT4-based simulation framework to analyze detector response and systematic effects for the abBA neutron decay experiment.

Findings

Quantified detector energy and timing response

Assessed systematic uncertainties in parameter extraction

Provided insights into experimental precision limits

Abstract

The abBA collaboration proposes to conduct a comprehensive program of precise measurements of neutron $\beta$-decay coefficients $a$ (the correlation between the neutrino momentum and the decay electron momentum), $b$ (the electron energy spectral distortion term), $A$ (the correlation between the neutron spin and the decay electron momentum), and $B$ (the correlation between the neutron spin and the decay neutrino momentum) at a cold neutron beam facility. We have used a GEANT4-based code to simulate the propagation of decay electrons and protons in the electromagnetic spectrometer and study the energy and timing response of a pair of Silicon detectors. We used these results to examine systematic effects and find the uncertainties with which the physics parameters $a$, $b$, $A$, and $B$ can be extracted from an over-determined experimental data set.