Neutron lifetime and dark decay of the neutron and hydrogen

Abstract

The neutron, besides its $\beta$-decay $n\to p e\bar\nu_e$, might have a new decay channel $n\to n' X$ into mirror neutron $n'$, its nearly mass degenerate twin from parallel dark sector, and a massless boson $X$ which can be ordinary and mirror photons or some more exotic particle. Such an invisible decay could alleviate the tension between the neutron lifetimes measured in the beam and trap experiments. I discuss some phenomenological and astrophysical consequences of this scenario, which depends on the mass range of mirror neutron $n'$. Namely, the case $m_{n'} < m_p + m_e$ leads to a striking possibility is that the hydrogen atom $^1$H (protium), constituting 75 per cent of the baryon mass in the Universe, could in fact be unstable: it can decay via the electron capture into $n'$ and $\nu_e$, with relatively short lifetime $\sim 10^{21}$ yr or so. If instead $m_{n'} > m_p + m_e$, then the decay $n'\to pe\bar \nu_e$ is allowed and $n'$ can represent an unstable dark matter component with rather large lifetime exceeding the age of the Universe. Nevertheless, this decay would produce substantial diffuse gamma background. The dark decay explanation of the lifetime puzzle, however, has a tension with the last experimental results measuring $\beta$-asymmetry in the neutron decay.