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Ultracold neutrons and the interaction of waves with moving matter

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Abstract

The present review is focused on the problem of interaction of neutron waves with moving matter. The validity of the 1/v law for ultracold neutrons and the possibility to characterize the interaction of neutrons with matter using the effective potential were verified in the so-called null Fizeau experiments. A neutron wave in such experiments propagates through a flat sample that moves parallel to its edges. The observation of effects caused by this motion provides evidence that the concept of constant effective potential is not correct. The second part of the review deals with the prediction and the first observation of the accelerated matter effect (a change in the energy of neutrons in passing through a refractive sample that moves with an acceleration directed along or opposite the direction of neutron propagation). The characteristic features of this phenomenon in the case of birefringent material are considered. In conclusion, the problem of propagation of neutron waves in matter moving with giant acceleration is discussed.

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    A. I. Frank

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Original Russian Text © A.I. Frank, 2016, published in Fizika Elementarnykh Chastits i Atomnogo Yadra, 2016, Vol. 47, No. 4.

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Frank, A.I. Ultracold neutrons and the interaction of waves with moving matter. Phys. Part. Nuclei 47, 647–666 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063779616040067

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