1. Constraining interactions mediated by axion-like particles with ultracold neutrons
- Author
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S. Afach, G. Ban, G. Bison, K. Bodek, M. Burghoff, M. Daum, M. Fertl, B. Franke, Z.D. Grujić, V. Hélaine, M. Kasprzak, Y. Kermaïdic, K. Kirch, P. Knowles, H.-C. Koch, S. Komposch, A. Kozela, J. Krempel, B. Lauss, T. Lefort, Y. Lemière, A. Mtchedlishvili, O. Naviliat-Cuncic, F.M. Piegsa, G. Pignol, P.N. Prashanth, G. Quéméner, D. Rebreyend, D. Ries, S. Roccia, P. Schmidt-Wellenburg, A. Schnabel, N. Severijns, J. Voigt, A. Weis, G. Wyszynski, J. Zejma, J. Zenner, and G. Zsigmond
- Subjects
Physics ,QC1-999 - Abstract
We report a new limit on a possible short range spin-dependent interaction from the precise measurement of the ratio of Larmor precession frequencies of stored ultracold neutrons and Hg199 atoms confined in the same volume. The measurement was performed in a ∼1μT vertical magnetic holding field with the apparatus searching for a permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron at the Paul Scherrer Institute. A possible coupling between freely precessing polarized neutron spins and unpolarized nucleons of the wall material can be investigated by searching for a tiny change of the precession frequencies of neutron and mercury spins. Such a frequency change can be interpreted as a consequence of a short range spin-dependent interaction that could possibly be mediated by axions or axion-like particles. The interaction strength is proportional to the CP violating product of scalar and pseudoscalar coupling constants gSgP. Our result confirms limits from complementary experiments with spin-polarized nuclei in a model-independent way. Limits from other neutron experiments are improved by up to two orders of magnitude in the interaction range of 10−6
- Published
- 2015
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