The β decay of a neutron in a strong quantizing magnetic field is studied by making use of the exact Dirac wave function for the electron in a magnetic field of arbitrary strength. The general conclusion is that the lifetime is unaffected by the magnetic field for H<10¹² G. For H>10¹² G, the lifetime in a vacuum is appreciably decreased. This conclusion is still valid when the decay takes place in a degenerate electron gas at densities lower than 10⁶ g/cm³. At higher densities, the lifetime in a magnetic field tends to reach the value in the absence of the field, for any field strength.
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L. Fassio-Canuto (1969) studied this question.
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