A search for neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations using the nEDM apparatus at PSI

doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2020.135993

A search for neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations using the nEDM apparatus at PSI

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Abstract

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, and its mirror counterpart could potentially answer various standing issues in physics today. Astrophysical studies and terrestrial experiments led by ultracold neutron storage measurements have investigated neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations and imposed constraints on the theoretical parameters. Recently, further analysis of these ultracold neutron storage experiments has yielded statistically significant anomalous signals that may be interpreted as neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations, assuming nonzero mirror magnetic fields. The neutron electric dipole moment collaboration performed a dedicated search at the Paul Scherrer Institute and found no evidence of neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations. Thereby, the following new lower limits on the oscillation time were obtained: τ_nn^′>352 s at B^′=0 (95% C.L.), τ_nn^′>6s for 0.4μT<B^′<25.7μT (95% C.L.), and τ_nn^′/cos⁡β>9s for 5.0μT<B^′<25.4μT (95% C.L.), where β is the fixed angle between the applied magnetic field and the local mirror magnetic field, which is assumed to be bound to the Earth. These new constraints are the best measured so far around B^′∼10μT and B^′∼20μT.

Original language	English
Article number	135993
Journal	Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
Volume	812
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2020.135993
State	Published - Jan 10 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We especially thank Z. Berezhiani for many valuable suggestions. The authors greatly acknowledge the exceptional support provided by Michael Meier, Fritz Burri and the BSQ group at PSI. The LPC and LPSC groups were supported by ANR (FR) grant # ANR-14-CE33-0007-02. The University of Sussex (UK) group was supported by STFC grants #ST/N504452/1, ST/M003426/1, and ST/N000307/1, and by their School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The PSI group was supported by the Swiss SNSF grants # 200020-137664, # 200021-117696, # 200020-144473, # 200021-126562, # 200020-163413 and # 200021-157079. ETHZ was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-172639. The University of Fribourg group was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-140421. The University of Bern group was supported by the grants SNSF # 181996 and ERC (EU) # 715031-BEAM-EDM. The Jagiellonian University group was supported by the Polish National Science Center grant # 2015/18/M/ST2/00056, # 2016/23/D/ST2/00715 and # 2018/30/M/ST2/00319. For the KU Leuven group, this work is also partly supported by Project GOA/2010/10 and Fund for Scientific Research in Flanders (FWO). One of the authors, P.M. would like to acknowledge support from the SERI-FCS (CH) award # 2015.0594 and Sigma Xi (USA) grants # G2017100190747806 and # G2019100190747806. We would like to acknowledge the grid computing resource provided by PL-GRID [58].

Funding Information:
We especially thank Z. Berezhiani for many valuable suggestions. The authors greatly acknowledge the exceptional support provided by Michael Meier, Fritz Burri and the BSQ group at PSI. The LPC and LPSC groups were supported by ANR (FR) grant # ANR-14-CE33-0007-02 . The University of Sussex (UK) group was supported by STFC grants # ST/N504452/1 , ST/M003426/1 , and ST/N000307/1 , and by their School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences . The PSI group was supported by the Swiss SNSF grants # 200020-137664 , # 200021-117696 , # 200020-144473 , # 200021-126562 , # 200020-163413 and # 200021-157079 . ETHZ was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-172639 . The University of Fribourg group was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-140421 . The University of Bern group was supported by the grants SNSF # 181996 and ERC (EU) # 715031-BEAM-EDM . The Jagiellonian University group was supported by the Polish National Science Center grant # 2015/18/M/ST2/00056 , # 2016/23/D/ST2/00715 and # 2018/30/M/ST2/00319 . For the KU Leuven group, this work is also partly supported by Project GOA/2010/10 and Fund for Scientific Research in Flanders (FWO). One of the authors, P.M., would like to acknowledge support from the SERI-FCS (CH) award # 2015.0594 and Sigma Xi (USA) grants # G2017100190747806 and # G2019100190747806 . We would like to acknowledge the grid computing resource provided by PL-GRID [58] .

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors

Keywords

Dark matter
Mirror matter
Nuclear matter
Particle symmetries
Properties of neutrons
Ultracold neutrons

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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10.1016/j.physletb.2020.135993

Cite this

@article{6d7f87dec72243daa666e033a4f00470,

title = "A search for neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations using the nEDM apparatus at PSI",

abstract = "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, and its mirror counterpart could potentially answer various standing issues in physics today. Astrophysical studies and terrestrial experiments led by ultracold neutron storage measurements have investigated neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations and imposed constraints on the theoretical parameters. Recently, further analysis of these ultracold neutron storage experiments has yielded statistically significant anomalous signals that may be interpreted as neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations, assuming nonzero mirror magnetic fields. The neutron electric dipole moment collaboration performed a dedicated search at the Paul Scherrer Institute and found no evidence of neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations. Thereby, the following new lower limits on the oscillation time were obtained: τnn′>352 s at B′=0 (95% C.L.), τnn′>6s for 0.4μT<B′<25.7μT (95% C.L.), and τnn′/cos⁡β>9s for 5.0μT<B′<25.4μT (95% C.L.), where β is the fixed angle between the applied magnetic field and the local mirror magnetic field, which is assumed to be bound to the Earth. These new constraints are the best measured so far around B′∼10μT and B′∼20μT.",

keywords = "Dark matter, Mirror matter, Nuclear matter, Particle symmetries, Properties of neutrons, Ultracold neutrons",

author = "C. Abel and Ayres, {N. J.} and G. Ban and G. Bison and K. Bodek and V. Bondar and E. Chanel and Chiu, {P. J.} and C. Crawford and M. Daum and Dinani, {R. T.} and S. Emmenegger and P. Flaux and L. Ferraris-Bouchez and Griffith, {W. C.} and Gruji{\'c}, {Z. D.} and N. Hild and K. Kirch and Koch, {H. C.} and Koss, {P. A.} and A. Kozela and J. Krempel and B. Lauss and T. Lefort and A. Leredde and P. Mohanmurthy and O. Naviliat-Cuncic and D. Pais and Piegsa, {F. M.} and G. Pignol and M. Rawlik and D. Rebreyend and I. Rien{\"a}cker and D. Ries and S. Roccia and D. Rozpedzik and P. Schmidt-Wellenburg and N. Severijns and J. Thorne and A. Weis and E. Wursten and J. Zejma and G. Zsigmond",

note = "Funding Information: We especially thank Z. Berezhiani for many valuable suggestions. The authors greatly acknowledge the exceptional support provided by Michael Meier, Fritz Burri and the BSQ group at PSI. The LPC and LPSC groups were supported by ANR (FR) grant # ANR-14-CE33-0007-02. The University of Sussex (UK) group was supported by STFC grants #ST/N504452/1, ST/M003426/1, and ST/N000307/1, and by their School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The PSI group was supported by the Swiss SNSF grants # 200020-137664, # 200021-117696, # 200020-144473, # 200021-126562, # 200020-163413 and # 200021-157079. ETHZ was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-172639. The University of Fribourg group was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-140421. The University of Bern group was supported by the grants SNSF # 181996 and ERC (EU) # 715031-BEAM-EDM. The Jagiellonian University group was supported by the Polish National Science Center grant # 2015/18/M/ST2/00056, # 2016/23/D/ST2/00715 and # 2018/30/M/ST2/00319. For the KU Leuven group, this work is also partly supported by Project GOA/2010/10 and Fund for Scientific Research in Flanders (FWO). One of the authors, P.M. would like to acknowledge support from the SERI-FCS (CH) award # 2015.0594 and Sigma Xi (USA) grants # G2017100190747806 and # G2019100190747806. We would like to acknowledge the grid computing resource provided by PL-GRID [58]. Funding Information: We especially thank Z. Berezhiani for many valuable suggestions. The authors greatly acknowledge the exceptional support provided by Michael Meier, Fritz Burri and the BSQ group at PSI. The LPC and LPSC groups were supported by ANR (FR) grant # ANR-14-CE33-0007-02 . The University of Sussex (UK) group was supported by STFC grants # ST/N504452/1 , ST/M003426/1 , and ST/N000307/1 , and by their School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences . The PSI group was supported by the Swiss SNSF grants # 200020-137664 , # 200021-117696 , # 200020-144473 , # 200021-126562 , # 200020-163413 and # 200021-157079 . ETHZ was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-172639 . The University of Fribourg group was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-140421 . The University of Bern group was supported by the grants SNSF # 181996 and ERC (EU) # 715031-BEAM-EDM . The Jagiellonian University group was supported by the Polish National Science Center grant # 2015/18/M/ST2/00056 , # 2016/23/D/ST2/00715 and # 2018/30/M/ST2/00319 . For the KU Leuven group, this work is also partly supported by Project GOA/2010/10 and Fund for Scientific Research in Flanders (FWO). One of the authors, P.M., would like to acknowledge support from the SERI-FCS (CH) award # 2015.0594 and Sigma Xi (USA) grants # G2017100190747806 and # G2019100190747806 . We would like to acknowledge the grid computing resource provided by PL-GRID [58] . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors",

year = "2021",

month = jan,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1016/j.physletb.2020.135993",

language = "English",

volume = "812",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - A search for neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations using the nEDM apparatus at PSI

AU - Abel, C.

AU - Ayres, N. J.

AU - Ban, G.

AU - Bison, G.

AU - Bodek, K.

AU - Bondar, V.

AU - Chanel, E.

AU - Chiu, P. J.

AU - Crawford, C.

AU - Daum, M.

AU - Dinani, R. T.

AU - Emmenegger, S.

AU - Flaux, P.

AU - Ferraris-Bouchez, L.

AU - Griffith, W. C.

AU - Grujić, Z. D.

AU - Hild, N.

AU - Kirch, K.

AU - Koch, H. C.

AU - Koss, P. A.

AU - Kozela, A.

AU - Krempel, J.

AU - Lauss, B.

AU - Lefort, T.

AU - Leredde, A.

AU - Mohanmurthy, P.

AU - Naviliat-Cuncic, O.

AU - Pais, D.

AU - Piegsa, F. M.

AU - Pignol, G.

AU - Rawlik, M.

AU - Rebreyend, D.

AU - Rienäcker, I.

AU - Ries, D.

AU - Roccia, S.

AU - Rozpedzik, D.

AU - Schmidt-Wellenburg, P.

AU - Severijns, N.

AU - Thorne, J.

AU - Weis, A.

AU - Wursten, E.

AU - Zejma, J.

AU - Zsigmond, G.

N1 - Funding Information: We especially thank Z. Berezhiani for many valuable suggestions. The authors greatly acknowledge the exceptional support provided by Michael Meier, Fritz Burri and the BSQ group at PSI. The LPC and LPSC groups were supported by ANR (FR) grant # ANR-14-CE33-0007-02. The University of Sussex (UK) group was supported by STFC grants #ST/N504452/1, ST/M003426/1, and ST/N000307/1, and by their School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. The PSI group was supported by the Swiss SNSF grants # 200020-137664, # 200021-117696, # 200020-144473, # 200021-126562, # 200020-163413 and # 200021-157079. ETHZ was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-172639. The University of Fribourg group was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-140421. The University of Bern group was supported by the grants SNSF # 181996 and ERC (EU) # 715031-BEAM-EDM. The Jagiellonian University group was supported by the Polish National Science Center grant # 2015/18/M/ST2/00056, # 2016/23/D/ST2/00715 and # 2018/30/M/ST2/00319. For the KU Leuven group, this work is also partly supported by Project GOA/2010/10 and Fund for Scientific Research in Flanders (FWO). One of the authors, P.M. would like to acknowledge support from the SERI-FCS (CH) award # 2015.0594 and Sigma Xi (USA) grants # G2017100190747806 and # G2019100190747806. We would like to acknowledge the grid computing resource provided by PL-GRID [58]. Funding Information: We especially thank Z. Berezhiani for many valuable suggestions. The authors greatly acknowledge the exceptional support provided by Michael Meier, Fritz Burri and the BSQ group at PSI. The LPC and LPSC groups were supported by ANR (FR) grant # ANR-14-CE33-0007-02 . The University of Sussex (UK) group was supported by STFC grants # ST/N504452/1 , ST/M003426/1 , and ST/N000307/1 , and by their School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences . The PSI group was supported by the Swiss SNSF grants # 200020-137664 , # 200021-117696 , # 200020-144473 , # 200021-126562 , # 200020-163413 and # 200021-157079 . ETHZ was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-172639 . The University of Fribourg group was supported by SNSF grant # 200020-140421 . The University of Bern group was supported by the grants SNSF # 181996 and ERC (EU) # 715031-BEAM-EDM . The Jagiellonian University group was supported by the Polish National Science Center grant # 2015/18/M/ST2/00056 , # 2016/23/D/ST2/00715 and # 2018/30/M/ST2/00319 . For the KU Leuven group, this work is also partly supported by Project GOA/2010/10 and Fund for Scientific Research in Flanders (FWO). One of the authors, P.M., would like to acknowledge support from the SERI-FCS (CH) award # 2015.0594 and Sigma Xi (USA) grants # G2017100190747806 and # G2019100190747806 . We would like to acknowledge the grid computing resource provided by PL-GRID [58] . Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors

PY - 2021/1/10

Y1 - 2021/1/10

N2 - 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, and its mirror counterpart could potentially answer various standing issues in physics today. Astrophysical studies and terrestrial experiments led by ultracold neutron storage measurements have investigated neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations and imposed constraints on the theoretical parameters. Recently, further analysis of these ultracold neutron storage experiments has yielded statistically significant anomalous signals that may be interpreted as neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations, assuming nonzero mirror magnetic fields. The neutron electric dipole moment collaboration performed a dedicated search at the Paul Scherrer Institute and found no evidence of neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations. Thereby, the following new lower limits on the oscillation time were obtained: τnn′>352 s at B′=0 (95% C.L.), τnn′>6s for 0.4μT<B′<25.7μT (95% C.L.), and τnn′/cos⁡β>9s for 5.0μT<B′<25.4μT (95% C.L.), where β is the fixed angle between the applied magnetic field and the local mirror magnetic field, which is assumed to be bound to the Earth. These new constraints are the best measured so far around B′∼10μT and B′∼20μT.

AB - 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, and its mirror counterpart could potentially answer various standing issues in physics today. Astrophysical studies and terrestrial experiments led by ultracold neutron storage measurements have investigated neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations and imposed constraints on the theoretical parameters. Recently, further analysis of these ultracold neutron storage experiments has yielded statistically significant anomalous signals that may be interpreted as neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations, assuming nonzero mirror magnetic fields. The neutron electric dipole moment collaboration performed a dedicated search at the Paul Scherrer Institute and found no evidence of neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations. Thereby, the following new lower limits on the oscillation time were obtained: τnn′>352 s at B′=0 (95% C.L.), τnn′>6s for 0.4μT<B′<25.7μT (95% C.L.), and τnn′/cos⁡β>9s for 5.0μT<B′<25.4μT (95% C.L.), where β is the fixed angle between the applied magnetic field and the local mirror magnetic field, which is assumed to be bound to the Earth. These new constraints are the best measured so far around B′∼10μT and B′∼20μT.

KW - Dark matter

KW - Mirror matter

KW - Nuclear matter

KW - Particle symmetries

KW - Properties of neutrons

KW - Ultracold neutrons

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DO - 10.1016/j.physletb.2020.135993

M3 - Article

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SN - 0370-2693

VL - 812

JO - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics

JF - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics

M1 - 135993

ER -

A search for neutron to mirror-neutron oscillations using the nEDM apparatus at PSI

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Bibliographical note

Keywords

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