Dark side of the neutron?
Open Access
- 12 December 2019
- journal article
- research article
- Published by EDP Sciences in EPJ Web of Conferences
- Vol. 219, 05005
- https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201921905005
Abstract
We discuss our recently proposed interpretation of the discrepancy between the bottle and beam neutron lifetime experiments as a sign of a dark sector. The difference between the outcomes of the two types of measurements is explained by the existence of a neutron dark decay channel with a branching fraction 1%. Phenomenologically consistent particle physics models for the neutron dark decay can be constructed and they involve a strongly self-interacting dark sector. We elaborate on the theoretical developments around this idea and describe the efforts undertaken to verify it experimentally.Keywords
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