The measurement of anomalous neutron inelastic cross-sections at electronvolt energy transfers

Abstract

It has been proposed that short-lived quantum entanglement of protons in condensed matter systems would result in anomalous inelastic scattering cross-sections at electronvolt energy transfers. This proposal seems to be confirmed by neutron measurements on the VESUVIO spectrometer at ISIS and by measurements using other techniques. However, there have been a number of published suggestions of ways in which the observed effects on VESUVIO could be introduced by assumptions used in the data analysis. In this paper it is shown using experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations that these suggestions cannot explain the observed cross-section anomalies. The other assumptions of the data analysis are also examined. It is shown that the assumption of a Gaussian peak shape for the neutron Compton profile can introduce significant errors into the determination of cross-section ratios, but also cannot explain the observed anomalies.