English

Lorentz violation in neutron and allowed nuclear beta decay

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2013-11-08 v3 Nuclear Theory

Abstract

We explore the possibility that the weak interaction violates Lorentz, and in particular rotational, invariance in neutron and allowed nuclear beta decay. A broad class of Lorentz-violating effects is considered, in which the standard propagator of the W-boson acquires an additional Lorentz-violating tensor. The general decay rate for allowed beta decay that incorporates such a modified propagator is derived. The resulting Lorentz-violating signals are discussed for the different types of beta-decay transitions, Fermi, Gamow-Teller, and mixed. We study the implications of our formalism for dedicated beta-decay experiments. We give a short overview of the few relevant experiments that have been performed or are ongoing.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1302.2730,
  title  = {Lorentz violation in neutron and allowed nuclear beta decay},
  author = {J. P. Noordmans and H. W. Wilschut and R. G. E. Timmermans},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1302.2730},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

23 pages; added references

R2 v1 2026-06-21T23:24:40.269Z