Measurement of the neutron incoherent scattering length of <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mmultiscripts><mi>Hg</mi><mprescripts></mprescripts><none></none><mn>199</mn></mmultiscripts></math> using stored ultracold neutrons

nEDM Collaboration; C. Abel; K. Bodek; E. Chanel; P.-J. Chiu; C. B. Crawford; M. Daum; C. B. Doorenbos; S. Emmenegger; M. Fertl; P. Flaux; A. Fratangelo; W. C. Griffith; P. Harris; K. Kirch; V. Kletzl; P. A. Koss; J. Krempel; B. Lauss; T. Lefort; P. Mohanmurthy; O. Naviliat-Cuncic; D. Pais; F. M. Piegsa; G. Pignol; C. Pistillo; D. Rebreyend; I. Rienaecker; D. Ries; S. Roccia; D. Rozpedzik; P. Schmidt-Wellenburg; N. Severijns; K. Svirina; J. Thorne; S. Touati; E. Wursten; N. Yazdandoost; J. Zejma

doi:10.1103/qtwt-drlz

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Measurement of the neutron incoherent scattering length of ${}^{199}{Hg}$ using stored ultracold neutrons

C. Abel ¹, K. Bodek², E. Chanel ^3,*,†, P.-J. Chiu ^4,5,‡, C. B. Crawford ⁶, M. Daum⁵, C. B. Doorenbos^4,5, S. Emmenegger⁴, M. Fertl ⁷ et al. (nEDM Collaboration)

M. Fertl ⁷, P. Flaux⁸, A. Fratangelo^3,§, W. C. Griffith ¹, P. Harris ¹, K. Kirch ^4,5, V. Kletzl ^4,5, P. A. Koss ^9,∥, J. Krempel⁴, B. Lauss ⁵, T. Lefort ⁸, P. Mohanmurthy ^4,5,¶, O. Naviliat-Cuncic ⁸, D. Pais^4,5, F. M. Piegsa ^3,**, G. Pignol ¹⁰, C. Pistillo ³, D. Rebreyend ¹⁰, I. Rienaecker^4,5, D. Ries⁵, S. Roccia ¹⁰, D. Rozpedzik ², P. Schmidt-Wellenburg⁵, N. Severijns ⁹, K. Svirina ^10,†, J. Thorne ³, S. Touati¹⁰, E. Wursten ^9,††, N. Yazdandoost ^11,5,‡‡, and J. Zejma ² (nEDM Collaboration)

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, United Kingdom
²Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, 30-348 Cracow, Poland
³Laboratory for High Energy Physics and Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
⁴ETH Zürich, Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
⁵Paul Scherrer Institut, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
⁶Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40504, USA
⁷Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
⁸Université de Caen Normandie, ENSICAEN, CNRS/IN2P3, LPC Caen, UMR6534, 14000 Caen, France
⁹Instituut voor Kern- en Stralingsfysica, University of Leuven, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
¹⁰Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LPSC-IN2P3, 38026 Grenoble, France
¹¹Department of Chemistry - TRIGA site, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany

^*Contact author: chanele@ill.fr
^†Present address: Institut Laue-Langevin, CS 20156 F-38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
^‡Present address: Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, 10617 Taipei, Taiwan.
^§Present address: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA.
^∥Present address: Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques, 79110 Freiburg, Germany.
^¶Present address: Laboratory for Nuclear Science, MIT, 77 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
^**Contact author: florian.piegsa@unibe.ch
^††Present address: Centre for Cold Matter, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.
^‡‡Present address: TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.

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Phys. Rev. C 114, 045501 – Published 1 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qtwt-drlz

Abstract

We present the first direct measurement of the neutron incoherent scattering length of ${}^{199}{Hg}$ . The measurement was performed with the Ramsey apparatus of the neutron electric dipole moment experiment located at the Paul Scherrer Institute. The incoherent scattering length $b_{i}$ was determined by investigating the pseudomagnetic effect due to the strong interaction between the neutron spins and the nuclear spins of mercury atoms. The resulting frequency shift of the neutron Larmor precession frequency was determined for various ${}^{199}{Hg}$ density and polarization values. The obtained value of $b_{i} = (- 16.2 \pm 2.0) fm$ agrees in magnitude with previous determinations and provides the so-far unknown sign of the quantity.

Physical Review C

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Measurement of the neutron incoherent scattering length of ${}^{199}{Hg}$ using stored ultracold neutrons

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Measurement of the neutron incoherent scattering length of Hg199 using stored ultracold neutrons

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Measurement of the neutron incoherent scattering length of ${}^{199}{Hg}$ using stored ultracold neutrons