Long sought-after particle consisting of four neutrons discovered

Research team for the first time observed a neutral nucleus – the Tetra Neutron

2022/06/23 by

An international research team with leading participation by TU Darmstadt succeeded for the first time to create an isolated four-neutron system with low relative energy in a volume corresponding to that of an atomic nucleus. The scientists have overcome the experimental challenge by employing a new method using a 8He beam and a fast high-energy reaction.

Students of TU Darmstadt and the Tokyo Institute of Technology enjoy the data acquisition and online control of the experiment at the SAMURAI facility (from left to right: Atsumi Saito, Akihiro Hirayama, Julian Kahlbow, Vadim Wagner).

The complete article can be found here.

The publication “Observation of a correlated free four-neutron system” by M. Dueret al. can be found with the doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04827-6.