Abstract
Precision measurements of free-neutron β decay have been used to precisely constrain our understanding of the weak interaction. However, the neutron Fierz interference term bn, which is particularly sensitive to beyond-standard-model tensor currents at the TeV scale, has thus far eluded measurement. Here we report the first direct constraints on this term, finding bn=0.067±0.005stat-0.061+0.090sys, consistent with the standard model. The uncertainty is dominated by absolute energy reconstruction and the linearity of the β spectrometer energy response.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 042501 |
| Journal | Physical Review C |
| Volume | 96 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 30 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2017 American Physical Society.
Funding
This work is supported in part by the US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics (DE-FG02-08ER41557, DE-SC0014622, DE-FG02-97ER41042) and the National Science Foundation (Grants No. NSF-0653222, No. NSF-0700491, No. NSF-0855538, No. NSF-1002814, No. NSF-1005233, No. NSF-1205977, No. NSF-1306997, No. NSF-1307426, No. 1506459, and No. NSF-1615153). We gratefully acknowledge the support of the LDRD program (20110043DR), and the LANSCE and AOT divisions of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| LANSCE | |
| DOE Office of Nuclear Physics | DE-FG02-08ER41557, DE-FG02-97ER41042, DE-SC0014622 |
| US Department of Energy | |
| National Science Foundation (NSF) | 1506459, 1205977, NSF-1307426, 0700491, 1005233, 1306997, 1307426, 0855538, 0653222, 1002814 |
| Laboratory Directed Research and Development | 20110043DR |
| Los Alamos National Laboratory |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics