Status of the UCNTau Experiment
Dan Salvat (Indiana University)

Abstract: We present the current status of the UCNTau experiment at LANL. The experiment is designed to perform a 0.1% measurement of the neutron lifetime by magnetically confining ultracold neutrons (UCN) in a 670 liter permanent magnet trap. The apparatus is installed at the LANSCE UCN source, and we have performed a preliminary test of the storage time of the UCN in the trap. We present the analysis of these data and discuss future improvements and new UCN detection techniques. Potential sources of systematic effects and their characterization will be addressed in the context of developing a next generation neutron lifetime measurement with 0.01% precision.