Studies of the Optics of Neutrons. II. Spin-Independent Interaction between Neutrons and Electrons

Abstract

After discussing the three known experimental methods for determining the spin-independent neutron-electron interaction, we show the various drawbacks of each. In particular, the method based on measuring an angle of total reflection and thereby deducing under proper assumptions the value for the amplitude of the neutron-electron interaction is shown to carry with it a grave uncertainty arising from the fact that the amplitudes compared in the reflection experiments have been deduced from cross-section measurements which contain a poorly determined contribution from incoherent scattering.