The Physics of Ultracold Neutrons

Neutrons provide an important tool for investigations in physics. Ultracold neutrons (UCN) belong to the extremely low energy range (10] -7 eV to 10]-8 eV), have velocities in the range 1-10 m s]-1 and wavelengths of 100-1000 A. Ultracold neutrons can be kept in hermetically sealed vessels for up to 15 minutes until they decay. This time is sufficient to observe the action of very weak fields and gives an insight into the properties of neutrons and their environment.

This book explains how physicists should cope with the problems of UCN research, how UCN can be used for fundamental and applied research, and summarizes the results which have been published.