{"id":3231,"date":"2026-05-02T19:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/?p=3231"},"modified":"2026-05-02T19:25:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T17:25:36","slug":"buckets-versus-pipes-the-neutron-lifetime-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/buckets-versus-pipes-the-neutron-lifetime-puzzle\/","title":{"rendered":"Buckets versus pipes: the neutron lifetime puzzle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">DIFT Colloquium.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-advanced-columns-e31fb33f\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-advanced-columns has-1-columns has-desktop-equal-layout has-tablet-equal-layout has-mobile-equal-layout has-vertical-unset\"><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-advanced-columns-overlay\"><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-advanced-columns-separators top\"><svg id=\"slant\" fill=\"var(--nv-primary-accent)\" viewBox=\"0 0 100 100\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100\" preserveAspectRatio=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"\"><path d=\"M0 0 L100 100 L100 0 Z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div><div class=\"innerblocks-wrap\">\n<div id=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-advanced-column-9394befc\" class=\"wp-block-themeisle-blocks-advanced-column\">\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Benjamin Grinstein (University of California, San Diego).<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Abstrac<\/strong>t:&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>A precise knowledge of the neutron lifetime is important because it serves as a fundamental input for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) models, which predict the primordial abundances of light elements. It also enters in the determination of the Cabibbo mixing angle, crucial in testing the validity of the CKM theory of quark flavor, in understanding reactor neutrino detection rates and the behavior of matter in extreme environments like neutron stars. Precise experiments give very precise results, but the values determined differ by over 1% with high statistical significance depending on the technology used for the experiment. In this talk I will review this so-called \u201cneutron lifetime puzzle\u201d and some of the proposed solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When<\/strong>: Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 15:30h (CEST).<br><strong>Location&amp;Place<\/strong>:&nbsp;CFTMAT Auditorium<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"724\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DIFT-Coloquio-BENJAMIN-GRINSTEIN-1448x2048-1-724x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DIFT-Coloquio-BENJAMIN-GRINSTEIN-1448x2048-1-724x1024.png 724w, https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DIFT-Coloquio-BENJAMIN-GRINSTEIN-1448x2048-1-212x300.png 212w, https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DIFT-Coloquio-BENJAMIN-GRINSTEIN-1448x2048-1-768x1086.png 768w, https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DIFT-Coloquio-BENJAMIN-GRINSTEIN-1448x2048-1-1086x1536.png 1086w, https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/DIFT-Coloquio-BENJAMIN-GRINSTEIN-1448x2048-1.png 1448w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:20%\"><div style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\" class=\"taxonomy-category has-text-align-center has-link-color wp-elements-1f1b0f0e735d262df90dfd01bcdce4b8 wp-block-post-terms has-text-color has-nv-text-dark-bg-color has-background has-neve-link-color-background-color\"><a href=\"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/category\/colloquium\/\" rel=\"tag\">Colloquium<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DIFT Colloquium. Benjamin Grinstein (University of California, San Diego). Abstract:&nbsp; A precise knowledge of the neutron lifetime is important because it serves as a fundamental input for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) models, which predict the primordial abundances of light elements. It also enters in the determination of the Cabibbo mixing angle, crucial in testing the&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/buckets-versus-pipes-the-neutron-lifetime-puzzle\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Buckets versus pipes: the neutron lifetime puzzle<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colloquium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3231"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3238,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3231\/revisions\/3238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ift.uam-csic.es\/severo\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}