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Experimental Search for Neutron to Mirror Neutron Oscillations as an Explanation of the Neutron Lifetime Anomaly
L J Broussard1, J L Barrow2, L DeBeer-Schmitt1
1Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
Abstract:
An unexplained >4σ discrepancy persists between "beam" and "bottle" measurements of the neutron lifetime. A new model proposed that conversions of neutrons n into mirror neutrons n^{'}, part of a dark mirror sector, can increase the apparent neutron lifetime by 1% via a small mass splitting Δm between n and n^{'} inside the 4.6 T magnetic field of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Beam Lifetime experiment. A search for neutron conversions in a 6.6 T magnetic field was performed at the Spallation Neutron Source which excludes this explanation for the neutron lifetime discrepancy.
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