Instruct: Identify the main and secondary category of Arxiv papers based on the titles and abstracts
Query: Optimal Proton Trapping in a Neutron Lifetime Experiment   In a neutron lifetime experiment conducted at the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, protons produced by neutron decay events are confined
in a Penning trap. In each run of the experiment, there is a trapping stage of
duration $\tau$. After the trapping stage, protons are purged from the trap. A
proton detector provides incomplete information because it goes dead after
detecting the first of any purged protons. Further, there is a dead time
$\delta$ between the end of the trapping stage in one run and the beginning of
the next trapping stage in the next run. Based on the fraction of runs where a
proton is detected, I estimate the trapping rate $\lambda$ by the method of
maximum likelihood. I show that the expected value of the maximum likelihood
estimate is infinite. To obtain a maximum likelihood estimate with a finite
expected value and a well-defined and finite variance, I restrict attention to
a subsample of all realizations of the data. This subsample excludes an
exceedingly rare realization that yields an infinite-valued estimate of
$\lambda$. I present asymptotically valid formulas for the bias,
root-mean-square prediction error, and standard deviation of the maximum
likelihood estimate of $\lambda$ for this subsample. Based on nominal values of
$\lambda$ and the dead time $\delta$, I determine the optimal duration of the
trapping stage $\tau$ by minimizing the root-mean-square prediction error of
the estimate.

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The categories of this paper are: econ
23
The categories of this paper are: solv-int
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The categories of this paper are: q-fin
10
The categories of this paper are: q-bio
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The categories of this paper are: bayes-an
16
The categories of this paper are: stat
6
The categories of this paper are: astro-ph
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The categories of this paper are: quant-ph
30
The categories of this paper are: q-alg
4
The categories of this paper are: cond-mat
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The categories of this paper are: plasm-ph
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The categories of this paper are: hep-lat
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The categories of this paper are: math
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The categories of this paper are: funct-an
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The categories of this paper are: cmp-lg
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The categories of this paper are: eess