Neutron Lifetime Discrepancy as a Sign of a Dark Sector?

We summarize our recent proposal of explaining the discrepancy between the bottle and beam measurements of the neutron lifetime through the existence of a dark sector, which the neutron can decay to with a branching fraction 1%. We show that viable particle physics models for such neutron dark decays can be constructed and we briefly comment on recent developments in this area.Comment: Talk presented at CIPANP2018. 8 pages, 2 figures; based on: Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 191801 (2018) [arXiv:1801.01124]; v2: references adde

The PADME experiment at LNF

Massive photon-like particles are predicted in many extensions of the Standard Model. They have interactions similar to the photon, are vector bosons, and can be produced together with photons. The PADME experiment proposes a search for the dark photon ($A'$) in the $e^+e^- \to \gamma A'$ process in a positron-on-target experiment, exploiting the positron beam of the DA$\Phi$NE linac at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, INFN. In one year of running a sensitivity in the relative interaction strength down to $10^{-6}$ is achievable, in the mass region from 2.5 MeV $<M_{A'}<$ 22.5 MeV. The proposed experimental setup and the analysis technique is discussed.Comment: to be published in the DHF2014 proceedings EPJ Web of Conference