Limits on $\boldmath n {\bar n}$ oscillations from nuclear stability

A. Gal

doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.61.028201

paper

Limits on $\boldmath n {\bar n}$ oscillations from nuclear stability

arXiv:hep-ph/9907334 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.61.028201

Abstract

The relationship between the lower limit on the nuclear stability lifetime as derived from the non disappearance of `stable` nuclei ( $T_{d} ≳ 5.4 \times 1 0^{31}$ yr), and the lower limit thus implied on the oscillation time $(τ_{n n ˉ})$ of a possibly underlying neutron-antineutron oscillation process, is clarified by studying the time evolution of the nuclear decay within a simple model which respects unitarity. The order-of-magnitude result $τ_{n n ˉ} \approx 2 (T_{d} / Γ_{n ˉ})^{1/2} > 2 \times 1 0^{8}$ sec, where $Γ_{n ˉ}$ is a typical $n ˉ$ nuclear annihilation width, agrees as expected with the limit on $τ_{n n ˉ}$ established by several detailed nuclear physics calculations, but sharply disagreeing by 15 orders of magnitude with a claim published recently in Phys. Rev. CRAP.

8 pages; this PRC version (accepted for publication, November 4 1999) differs from the original version only by a few minor editorial changes

Limits on $\boldmath n {\bar n}$ oscillations from nuclear stability

Abstract

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