Neutron Star Constraints on Neutron Dark Decays

Motivated by the neutron lifetime puzzle, it is proposed that neutrons may decay into new states yet to be observed. We review the neutron star constraints on dark fermions carrying unit baryon number with masses around 939 MeV, and discuss the interaction strengths required for the new particle. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inUniverse (Basel) Vol. 9; no. 11; p. 484
Main Author Zhou, Dake
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2023
Subjects
Astronomical research
dark matter
Laboratories
neutron lifetime
neutron star
Neutron stars
Neutrons
Physics
Quarks
United States
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Summary:Motivated by the neutron lifetime puzzle, it is proposed that neutrons may decay into new states yet to be observed. We review the neutron star constraints on dark fermions carrying unit baryon number with masses around 939 MeV, and discuss the interaction strengths required for the new particle. The possibility of neutrons decaying into three dark fermions is investigated. While up to six flavors of dark quarks with masses around 313 MeV can be compatible with massive pulsars, any such exotic states lighter than about 270 MeV are excluded by the existence of low-mass neutron stars around ∼1.2M⊙. Light dark quarks in the allowed mass range may form a halo surrounding normal neutron stars. We discuss the potential observable signatures of the halo during binary neutron star mergers.
ISSN:2218-1997
2218-1997
DOI:10.3390/universe9110484