Related papers: Neutron disappearance inside the nucleus
Neutrinos, being massive, can decay. A heavier neutrino could decay into a lighter one and a massless scalar or pseudoscalar boson, such as the Majoron. Two-body non-radiative decay could occur in dense matter, such as in the inner dense…
The hypothesis that neutrons might decay into dark matter is explored using neutron stars as a testing ground. It is found that in order to obtain stars with masses at the upper end of those observed, the dark matter must experience a…
There is a long-standing discrepancy between the neutron lifetime measured in beam and bottle experiments. We propose to explain this anomaly by a dark decay channel for the neutron, involving one or more dark sector particles in the final…
Current precision big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) studies motivate us to revisit the neutron lifespan in the plasma medium of the early universe. The mechanism we explore is the Fermi-blocking of decay electrons and neutrinos by plasma. As…
We calculate neutrino emissivities from self-annihilating dark matter ($\chi$) in the dense and hot stellar interior of a (proto)neutron star. Using a model where dark matter interacts with nucleons in the stellar core through a…
We study the invisible decay of neutral hadrons in a representative model of the dark sector. The mesons $K_L$ and $B^0$ decay into the dark sector with branching rates that can be at the current experimental limits. The neutron decays with…
The existing discrepancy between neutron lifetime measurements in bottle and beam experiments has been interpreted as a sign of the neutron decaying to dark particles. We summarize the current status of this proposal, including a discussion…
We demonstrate that the observation of neutron stars with masses greater than one solar mass places severe demands on any exotic neutron decay mode that could explain the discrepancy between beam and bottle measurements of the neutron…
It was recently suggested that the discrepancy between two methods of measuring the lifetime of the neutron may be a result of an unseen decay mode into a dark matter particle which is almost degenerate with the neutron. We explore the…
Cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations suggest the possibility of an extra dark radiation component, while the current evidence from big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) is more ambiguous. Dark radiation from a decaying particle can…
We calculate the number of dark matter particles that a neutron star accumulates over its lifetime as it rotates around the center of a galaxy, when the dark matter particle is a self-interacting boson but does not self-annihilate. We take…
At least one neutrino has a mass of about 50 meV or larger. However, the absolute mass scale for the neutrino remains unknown. Studies of double beta decay offer hope for determining the absolute mass scale. Furthermore, the critical…
We discuss the unique baryon number violation by two units neutron decay mode $n\to \bar p e^+\chi$, with $\chi$ being the standard model (SM) neutrino $\nu$ or antineutrino $\bar\nu$ or any beyond SM light fermion, in the framework of…
It is possible that the strongest interactions between dark matter and the Standard Model occur via the neutrino sector. Unlike gamma rays and charged particles, neutrinos provide a unique avenue to probe for astrophysical sources of dark…
A review is focused on experimental measurements on neutron lifetime. The latest measurements with a gravitational trap (PNPI NRC KI) and a magnetic trap (LANL, USA) confirmed PNPI result of 2005. The results of measurements with storage of…
We conduct a systematic investigation of the influence of the nuclear symmetry energy on the proposed neutron decay into dark matter particles within the cores of neutron stars. Unlike the majority of previous studies that considered only…
The amount of decaying dark matter, accumulated in the central regions in neutron stars together with the energy deposition rate from decays, may set a limit on the neutron star survival rate against transitions to more compact objects…
Recent theoretical works have shown that matter swapping between two parallel braneworlds could occur under the influence of magnetic vector potentials. In our visible world, galactic magnetism possibly produces a huge magnetic potential.…
We consider radiative \beta--decay of the neutron in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory, with an extension including explicit \Delta degrees of freedom. We compute the photon energy spectrum as well as the photon polarization; both…
Matter effects on the mixing of the neutrinos mass eigenstates, also know as the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effect, seem to be well established in describing the propagation of the neutrino from the source to detecting devices. These…