Neutron-antineutron oscillations beyond the quasi-free limit

Abstract

Prompted by plans to conduct a new neutron oscillation experiment at the European Spallation Source (ESS), we consider issues associated with the magnetic field that must be present, some of which are potentially exacerbated by the significantly larger length $l$ contemplated for the neutron propagation region. To this end, we introduce a stochastic model of the residual magnetic field within the propagation region which draws on features of magnetic profiles measured during the last free neutron oscillation experiment [conducted at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in the 1990's]. We average over both fluctuations in the magnetic field sampled by neutrons, and representative spectra of neutron speeds. We find that deviations from the quasi-free result for the antineutron probability do not depend quadratically on $l$ (as a naive perturbative estimate would suggest) but increase only linearly with $l$. As regards the large spikes in the magnetic field which can be expected at, for example, joints in the magnetic shielding of the propagation region (despite compensating currents and magnetic idealization of the shield), we demonstrate that their effect scales as $l/D^{3/2}$, where $D$ is the diameter of the cylindrical magnetic shielding. Our arguments suggest that, provided the dimensions of the propagation region are such that the ratio $l/D^{3/2}$ does not exceed the value pertinent to the ILL experiment, and these spikes occur close to either end of the propagation region, they can be neglected. We also establish that any large magnetic field encountered after the propagation region is exited will not diminish the probability for antineutron detection. For the range of values of $l$ of most interest to the ESS experiment, it should suffice to improve on the level of magnetic suppression achieved at the ILL by a factor of two.