English

A direct experimental limit on neutron -- mirror neutron oscillations

Nuclear Experiment 2008-11-26 v2

Abstract

In case a mirror world with a copy of our ordinary particle spectrum would exist, the neutron n and its degenerate partner, the mirror neutron n{\rm n'}, could potentially mix and undergo nn{\rm nn'} oscillations. The interaction of an ordinary magnetic field with the ordinary neutron would lift the degeneracy between the mirror partners, diminish the n{\rm n'}-amplitude in the n-wavefunction and, thus, suppress its observability. We report an experimental comparison of ultracold neutron storage in a trap with and without superimposed magnetic field. No influence of the magnetic field is found and, assuming negligible mirror magnetic fields, a limit on the oscillation time τnn>103\tau_{\rm nn'} > 103 s (95% C.L.) is derived.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0705.2336,
  title  = {A direct experimental limit on neutron -- mirror neutron oscillations},
  author = {G. Ban and K. Bodek and M. Daum and R. Henneck and S. Heule and M. Kasprzak and N. Khomutov and K. Kirch and S. Kistryn and A. Knecht and P. Knowles and M. Kuzniak and T. Lefort and A. Mtchedlishvili and O. Naviliat-Cuncic and C. Plonka and G. Quemener and M. Rebetez and D. Rebreyend and S. Roccia and G. Rogel and M. Tur and A. Weis and J. Zejma and G. Zsigmond},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0705.2336},
  year   = {2008}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-21T08:28:52.981Z