Mass The mass of a neutron cannot be directly determined by
mass spectrometry since it has no electric charge. But since the masses of a proton and of a
deuteron can be measured with a mass spectrometer, the mass of a neutron can be deduced by subtracting proton mass from deuteron mass, with the difference being the mass of the neutron plus the
binding energy of deuterium (expressed as a positive emitted energy). The latter can be directly measured by measuring the energy (B_d) of the single gamma photon emitted when a deuteron is formed by a proton capturing a neutron (this is exothermic and happens with zero-energy neutrons). The small recoil kinetic energy (E_{rd}) of the deuteron (about 0.06% of the total energy) must also be accounted for. m_n= m_d - m_p + B_d - E_{rd} The energy of the gamma ray can be measured to high precision by X-ray diffraction techniques, as was first done by Bell and Elliot in 1948. The best modern (1986) values for neutron mass by this technique are provided by Greene, et al. These give a neutron mass of: :
mneutron = The value for the neutron mass in MeV is less accurately known, due to less accuracy in the known conversion of
Da to MeV/
c2: In 1949, Hughes and Burgy measured neutrons reflected from a ferromagnetic mirror and found that the angular distribution of the reflections was consistent with spin . In 1954, Sherwood, Stephenson, and Bernstein employed neutrons in a
Stern–Gerlach experiment that used a magnetic field to separate the neutron spin states. They recorded two such spin states, consistent with a spin particle. As a fermion, the neutron is subject to the
Pauli exclusion principle; two neutrons cannot have the same quantum numbers. This is the source of the
degeneracy pressure which counteracts gravity in
neutron stars and prevents them from forming black holes.
Magnetic moment Even though the neutron is a neutral particle, the magnetic moment of a neutron is not zero. The neutron is not affected by electric fields, but it is affected by magnetic fields. The value for the neutron's magnetic moment was first directly measured by
Luis Alvarez and
Felix Bloch at
Berkeley, California, in 1940. In the
quark model for
hadrons, the neutron is composed of one up quark (charge +2/3
e) and two down quarks (charge −1/3
e). The calculation assumes that the quarks behave like point-like Dirac particles, each having their own magnetic moment. Simplistically, the magnetic moment of the neutron can be viewed as resulting from the vector sum of the three quark magnetic moments, plus the orbital magnetic moments caused by the movement of the three charged quarks within the neutron. In one of the early successes of the Standard Model, in 1964 Mirza A.B. Beg,
Benjamin W. Lee, and
Abraham Pais calculated the ratio of proton to neutron magnetic moments to be −3/2 (or a ratio of −1.5), which agrees with the experimental value to within 3%. The discrepancy stems from the complexity of the Standard Model for nucleons, where most of their mass originates in the
gluon fields, virtual particles, and their associated energy that are essential aspects of the
strong force. Furthermore, the complex system of quarks and gluons that constitute a neutron requires a relativistic treatment. But the nucleon magnetic moment has been successfully computed numerically from
first principles, including all of the effects mentioned and using more realistic values for the quark masses. The calculation gave results that were in fair agreement with measurement, but it required significant computing resources.
Electric charge The total electric charge of the neutron is . This zero value has been tested experimentally, and the present experimental limit for the charge of the neutron is , or . This value is consistent with zero, given the experimental
uncertainties (indicated in parentheses). By comparison, the charge of the proton is .
Electric dipole moment The Standard Model of particle physics predicts a tiny separation of positive and negative charge within the neutron leading to a permanent
electric dipole moment. But the predicted value is well below the current sensitivity of experiments. From several
unsolved puzzles in particle physics, it is clear that the Standard Model is not the final and full description of all particles and their interactions. New theories going
beyond the Standard Model generally lead to much larger predictions for the electric dipole moment of the neutron. Currently, there are at least four experiments trying to measure for the first time a finite neutron electric dipole moment, including: •
Cryogenic neutron EDM experiment being set up at the
Institut Laue–Langevin • n2EDM experiment under construction at the UCN source at the
Paul Scherrer Institute • nEDM experiment being envisaged at the
Spallation Neutron Source • nEDM experiment being built at the
Institut Laue–Langevin Antineutron The antineutron is the
antiparticle of the neutron. It was discovered by
Bruce Cork in 1956, a year after the
antiproton was discovered. Neutrons have
baryon number equal to 1 while antineutrons have -1. While all measured particle interactions conserve baryon number,
matter dominates over antimatter in the cosmos suggesting that there must be some way to change the baryon number. One proposed mechanism is
neutron-antineutron oscillations which might be detectable. The lower limit on the period of oscillations 0.86×108 s (90% CL) was obtained using cold neutrons.
Ultracold neutrons may increase the sensitivity by 10–40 times, depending on the model of neutron reflection from walls. == Detection ==