642 research outputs found
Gauged B-L Number and Neutron--Antineutron Oscillation: Long-range Forces Mediated by Baryophotons
Transformation of neutron to antineutron is a small effect that has not yet
been experimentally observed. %\cite{Phillips:2014fgb}. In principle, it can
occur with free neutrons in the vacuum or with bound neutrons inside the
nuclear environment different for neutrons and antineutrons and for that reason
in the latter case it is heavily suppressed. Free neutron transformation also
can be suppressed if environmental vector field exists destinguishing neutron
from antineutron. We consider here the case of a vector field coupled to
charge of the particles ( photons) and study a possibility of this to lead
to the observable suppression of neutron to antineutron transformation. The
suppression effect however can be removed by applying external magnetic field.
If the neutron--antineutron oscillation will be discovered in free neutron
oscillation experiments, this will imply limits on photon coupling
constant and interaction radius few order of magnitudes stronger than present
limits form the tests of the equivalence principle. If oscillation
will be discovered via nuclear instability, but not in free neutron
oscillations in corresponding level, this would indicate to the presence of
fifth-forces mediated by such baryophotons.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Neutron-Mirror Neutron Oscillations in Absorbing Matter
The possibility that a neutron can be transformed to a hidden sector particle remains intriguingly open. Proposed theoretical models conjecture that the hidden sector can be represented by a mirror sector, and the neutron n can oscillate into its sterile mirror twin n′, exactly or nearly degenerate in mass with n. Oscillations n−n′ can take place in vacuum or in an environment containing regular matter and a magnetic field, in which only the neutron will be subject to interactions with the environment. We describe the propagation of the oscillating n−n′ system in a cold neutron beam passing through dense absorbing materials in connection to the possible regeneration type of experiments, where the effect of n→n′→n transformation can be observed
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Prospects for neutron-antineutron transition search
Presently-available sources of free neutrons can allow an improvement in the discovery potential of a neutron-antineutron transition search by four orders of magnitude as compared to that of the most recent reactor-based search experiment performed at ILL in Grenoble. This would be equivalent to a characteristic neutron-antineutron transition time limit of >10{sup 10} seconds. With future dedicated neutron-source Facilities, with further progress in cold-neutron- moderator techniques, and with a vertical experiment layout, the discovery potential could ultimately be pushed by another factor of {approximately}100 corresponding to a characteristic transition time limit of {approximately}10{sup 11} seconds. Prospects for, and relative merits of, a neutron-antineutron oscillation search in intranuclear transitions are also discussed
Neutron-antineutron transition search at HFIR reactor
A new experiment to search for neutron-antineutron transitions was recently proposed for High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In this paper the physics motivation of a new search, the scheme and the discovery potential of the proposed HFIR-based experiment are discussed
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Future prospects of baryon istability search in p-decay and n n(bar) oscillation experiments
These proceedings contain thirty-one papers which review both the theoretical and the experimental status and near future of baryon instability research. Baryon instability is investigated from the vantage point of supersymmetric and unified theories. The interplay between baryogenesis and antimatter is examined. Double beta decay experiments are discussed. The huge Icarus experiment is described with its proton decay capabilities. Neutron-antineutron oscillations investigations are presented, especially efforts with ultra-cold neutrons. Individual papers are indexed separately on the Energy Data Base
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