New limits on the Pauli forbidden transitions in 12C nuclei obtained with the complete Borexino dataset

Abstract

The Pauli exclusion principle (PEP) was tested for nucleons in ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}$ nuclei using the Borexino dataset from 2007 to 2021. %the complete Borexino detector data. The approach consists of searching for $\gamma$-quanta, neutrons, protons, as well as electrons and positrons emitted in non-Paulian transitions of nucleons from the $1P_{3/2}$ shell to the filled $1S_{1/2}$ shell. Due to the uniquely low background level, the large mass, and long measurement time of the Borexino detector, the most stringent experimental constraints to date on the lifetime of the ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}$ nucleus with respect to PEP-forbidden transitions were obtained: $\tau ({}^{12}\mathrm{C}\to {}^{12}\tilde{\mathrm{C}}+\gamma )\ge 1.1\times 10^{32}$ y, $\tau ({}^{12}\mathrm{C}\to {}^{11}\tilde{\mathrm{B}}+p)\ge 1.0\times 10^{31}$ y, $\tau ({}^{12}\mathrm{C}\to {}^{11}\tilde{\mathrm{C}}+n)\ge 2.0\times 10^{31}$ y, $\tau ({}^{12}\mathrm{C}\to {}^{12}\tilde{\mathrm{N}}+e^{-}+\widetilde{{\nu }_e})\ge 6.4\times 10^{30}$ y and $\tau ({}^{12}\mathrm{C}\to {}^{12}\tilde{\mathrm{B}}+e^{+}+{\nu }_e)\ge 6.6\times 10^{30}$ y (90\% C.L.). The upper limits on the relative strengths for the non-Paulian electromagnetic, strong, and weak transitions have been obtained: ${\delta }_{\gamma }^2\le 1.0\times 10^{-57}$, ${\delta }_N^2\le 7.0\times 10^{-61}$ and ${\delta }_{\beta }^2\le 9.6\times 10^{-36}$, all at 90\% C.L..

13 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables

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