Selected Aspects of Neutron Decay

TL;DR

This paper discusses the importance of precision neutron decay measurements for testing fundamental particle physics theories, highlighting two upcoming experiments and the potential of the neutron's two-body decay despite its rarity.

Contribution

It introduces two new planned or studied experiments on neutron decay, emphasizing the significance of the neutron's two-body decay mode for particle physics research.

Findings

Neutron lifetime measurements still have significant uncertainties.

Two-body neutron decay ($n o Har u$) has not yet been observed.

Neutron decay experiments can test the V-A structure of weak interactions.

Abstract

Precision measurements of neutron decay offer complementary access to particle physics at small distance scales or high energies. In particular they allow tests of the V-A structure of the weak interaction. Among many experimental activities which are ongoing around the world we present two new experiments which are planned or studied for the near future. While the neutron lifetime still bears significant experimental uncertainties and thus has to be studied with greatest precision the two-body decay ($n\to H\bar\nu$) of the neutron has not yet been observed. Despite its small branching fraction it offers many possibilities in the framework of particle physics. Both cases are addressed in this contribution.