Abstract
The theory of mirror matter predicts a hidden sector made up of a copy of the Standard Model particles and interactions but with opposite parity. If mirror matter interacts with ordinary matter, there could be experimentally accessible implications in the form of neutral particle oscillations. Direct searches for neutron oscillations into mirror neutrons in a controlled magnetic field have previously been performed using ultracold neutrons in storage/disappearance measurements, with some inconclusive results consistent with characteristic oscillation time of τ∼10 s. Here we describe a proposed disappearance and regeneration experiment in which the neutron oscillates to and from a mirror neutron state. An experiment performed using the existing General Purpose-Small Angle Neutron Scattering instrument at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could have the sensitivity to exclude up to τ<15 s in 1 week of beamtime and at low cost.
| Original language | English |
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| State | Published - 2017 |
| Event | 2017 Meeting of the APS Division of Particles and Fields, DPF 2017 - Batavia, United States Duration: Jul 31 2017 → Aug 4 2017 |
Conference
| Conference | 2017 Meeting of the APS Division of Particles and Fields, DPF 2017 |
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| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Batavia |
| Period | 07/31/17 → 08/4/17 |
Funding
This research was sponsored by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program [project 8215] of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U. S. Department of Energy, and was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics [contract DE-SC0014558] and Office of Nuclear Physics [contracts DE-AC05-00OR2272, DE-SC0014622, DE-FG02-97ER41042, and DEFG02-03ER41 258], and in part by the National Science Foundation [contract PHY1615153].