A search was made for the occurrence of particle-stable tetraneutrons in the fast-deuteron-induced fission of uranium. This process is known to give a high yield of alphas and tritons. In order to deduce the presence of tetraneutrons, the following hypothetical reactions were investigated: N¹⁴(n⁴, n)N¹⁷, O¹⁶(n⁴, t)N¹⁷, Mg²⁶(n⁴, 2n)Mg²⁸, Rh¹⁰³(n⁴, 2n)Rh¹⁰⁵, Bi²⁰⁹(n⁴, n)Bi²¹² and Bi²⁰⁹(n⁴, 2n)Bi²¹¹. No evidence for tetraneutrons was found. The upper limits of tetraneutron yields per alpha obtained from the above reactions are: 2×{}10^-8, 3×{}10^-4, 3×{}10^-5, 3×{}10^-4, 1×{}10^-6, and 1×{}10^-8, respectively. It seems reasonable to conclude from these results that the existence of tetraneutrons is most unlikely.
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Cierjacks et al. (1965) studied this question.
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