Experimental search for neutron-mirror neutron oscillations using storage of ultracold neutrons
Experimental search for neutron-mirror neutron oscillations using storage of ultracold neutrons
复制标题
利用超冷中子存储对中子镜中子振荡进行实验研究
DOI：
10.1016/j.physletb.2008.04.014
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发表时间：
2007
影响因子：
4.4
通讯作者：
O. Zimmer
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
A. Serebrov;E. B. Aleksandrov;N. Dovator;S. Dmitriev;A. Fomin;P. Geltenbort;A. Kharitonov;I. Krasnoschekova;M. Lasakov;A. Murashkin;G. E. Shmelev;V. Varlamov;A. Vassiljev;O. Zherebtsov;O. Zimmer
基本粒子的镜像伴侣的隐藏部分的想法作为暗物质的可能候选者引起了相当大的兴趣。最近Berezhiani和Bento指出，目前的实验数据不能排除中子n快速振荡到镜像中子n '的可能性，振荡时间远小于中子寿命。对真空跃迁n→n '的专门搜索必须在弱磁场下进行，其中两种状态都是简并的。我们报告了我们的实验结果，比较了储存在远低于20 nT的弱磁场和强到足以抑制所寻求的跃迁的磁场下的超冷中子的速率。我们得到了n-n '跃迁振荡时间的新极限τosc(90% C.L.)>414 s。对应的正中子态和镜像中子态混合能极限为δm(90% C.L.)<1.5×10−18eV。
The idea of a hidden sector of mirror partners of elementary particles has attracted considerable interest as a possible candidate for dark matter. Recently it was pointed out by Berezhiani and Bento that the present experimental data cannot exclude the possibility of a rapid oscillation of the neutron n to a mirror neutron n′ with oscillation time much smaller than the neutron lifetime. A dedicated search for vacuum transitions n→n′has to be performed at weak magnetic field, where both states are degenerate. We report the result of our experiment, which compares rates of ultracold neutrons after storage at a weak magnetic field well below 20 nT and at a magnetic field strong enough to suppress the seeked transitions. We obtain a new limit for the oscillation time of n–n′ transitions, τosc(90% C.L.)>414 s. The corresponding limit for the mixing energy of the normal and mirror neutron states is δm(90% C.L.)<1.5×10−18eV.