Related papers: Neutron Lifetime and Axial Coupling Connection
Since neutrinos have mass differences, they could decay into one another. But their lifetimes are likely long, even when shortened by new physics, so decay likely impacts neutrinos only during long trips. This makes high-energy…
Measurements of the lifetime of neutrons trapped in a bottle have been consistently shorter than the lifetime measured in neutron beam experiments. With trapping potentials as low as 50 neV and neutron detectors located only at the top of…
We discuss our recently proposed interpretation of the discrepancy between the bottle and beam neutron lifetime experiments as a sign of a dark sector. The difference between the outcomes of the two types of measurements is explained by the…
Data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory have been used to constrain the lifetime for nucleon decay to ``invisible'' modes, such as n -> 3 nu. The analysis was based on a search for gamma-rays from the de-excitation of the residual…
We establish the feasibility of measuring the neutron lifetime via an alternative, space-based class of methods, which use neutrons generated by galactic cosmic ray spallation of planets' surfaces and atmospheres. Free neutrons decay via…
It has been proposed that there could be a mirror copy of the standard model particles, restoring the parity symmetry in the weak interaction on the global level. Oscillations between a neutral standard model particle, such as the neutron,…
We discuss decays of ultra-relativistic neutrinos over cosmological distances by solving the decay equation in terms of its redshift dependence. We demonstrate that there are significant conceptual differences compared to more simplified…
Nucleon lifetimes for various decay modes via dimension 6 operators are calculated in the anomalous $U(1)_A$ GUT scenario, in which the unification scale $\Lambda_u$ becomes smaller than the usual supersymmetric (SUSY) unification scale…
In this paper we review the role of the neutron lifetime and discuss the present status of measurements. In view of the large discrepancy observed by the two most precise individual measurements so far we describe the different techniques…
All existing positive results on two neutrino double beta decay in different nuclei were analyzed. Using the procedure recommended by the Particle Data Group, weighted average values for half-lives of $^{48}$Ca, $^{76}$Ge, $^{82}$Se,…
In a recent paper submitted to Physical Review Letters, Fornal and Grinstein have suggested that the discrepancy between two different methods of neutron lifetime measurements, the beam and bottle methods can be explained by a previously…
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 ${\rm n'}$, could potentially mix and undergo ${\rm nn'}$ oscillations. The interaction of an…
$Background:$ Previous measurements of $\beta$-delayed neutron emitters comprise around 230 nuclei, spanning from the $^{8}$He up to $^{150}$La. Apart from $^{210}$Tl, with a minuscule branching ratio of 0.007\%, no other neutron emitter is…
The lifetime of free neutrons measured in the lab has a long standing disparity of $\sim$9~s. A space-based technique has recently been proposed to independently measure the neutron lifetime using interactions between the galactic cosmic…
A new measurement of the neutron $\beta$-decay asymmetry $A_0$ has been carried out by the UCNA collaboration using polarized ultracold neutrons (UCN) from the solid deuterium UCN source at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE).…
The discrepancies in different measurements of the lifetime of isolated neutrons could be resolved by considering an extra neutron decay channel into dark matter, with a branching ratio of the order of $O(1$\%). Although the decay channel…
It is shown that there is a double counting in the standard model of $n\bar {n}$ mixing in the medium, resulting in full cancellation of leading terms. The direct calculation of $n\bar{n}$ transition followed by annihilation is performed.…
We present a detailed report of a measurement of the neutron $\beta$-asymmetry parameter $A_0$, the parity-violating angular correlation between the neutron spin and the decay electron momentum, performed with polarized ultracold neutrons…
Comparing Big Bang Nucleosynthesis predictions with the light element abundances inferred from observational data, we can obtain the strong constraints on some neutrino properties, e.g. number of neutrino species, mass, lifetime. Recently…
We report the first measurement of angular correlation parameters in neutron $\beta$-decay using polarized ultracold neutrons (UCN). We utilize UCN with energies below about 200 neV, which we guide and store for $\sim 30$ s in a Cu decay…