2007/05/31 by G. Ban, K. Bodek, M. Daum +22 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #nucl-ex
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.99.161603
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.99:161603,2007 · 4 pages, 1 figure. accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett
arxiv created 2007/09/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
In case a mirror world with a copy of our ordinary particle spectrum would exist, the neutron n and its degenerate partner, the mirror neutron \rm n', could potentially mix and undergo \rm nn' oscillations. The interaction of an ordinary magnetic field with the ordinary neutron would lift the degeneracy between the mirror partners, diminish the \rm n'-amplitude in the n-wavefunction and, thus, suppress its observability. We report an experimental comparison of ultracold neutron storage in a trap with and without superimposed magnetic field. No influence of the magnetic field is found and, assuming negligible mirror magnetic fields, a limit on the oscillation time τ\rm nn' > 103 s (95% C.L.) is derived.