Abstract
The beta-decay lifetime of the free neutron has been determined most precisely using storage of ultra-cold neutrons (UCNs) in material bottles. The quantity measured is the storage time which is substantially smaller than due to spurious losses of UCNs at collisions with the bottle walls. The systematic uncertainty of the correction - to the true lifetime is presently the main obstacle towards higher precision in this measurement. In the alternative magnetic trapping of UCNs, storage conditions can be realized where this correction becomes vanishingly small. This paper gives a method to measure the neutron lifetime with very low systematic errors, using confinement of UCNs in vacuum by magnetic and gravitational forces. The trap can be filled using a high-frequency technique. Spurious neutron losses out of the volume of confinement are monitored and the decay events are detected in situ.
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