Neutron-antineutron Oscillation and Baryonic Majoron: Low Scale Spontaneous Baryon Violation

TL;DR

This paper explores the possibility of low-scale spontaneous baryon number violation leading to neutron-antineutron oscillations and the emergence of a baryonic majoron, with implications for nuclear processes and connections to lepton number breaking.

Contribution

It proposes a novel scenario where baryon number is spontaneously broken at low scales, inducing observable neutron-antineutron oscillations and linking baryonic and leptonic symmetry breaking.

Findings

Neutron-antineutron oscillations can occur at experimentally accessible levels.

A baryonic majoron can influence nuclear transitions and dense matter.

Baryon number may be spontaneously broken by QCD condensates.

Abstract

We discuss a possibility that baryon number $B$ is spontaneously broken at low scales, of the order of MeV or even smaller, so that the neutron-antineutron oscillation can be induced at the experimentally accessible level. An associated Goldstone particle, baryonic majoron, can have observable effects in neutron to antineutron transitions in nuclei or dense nuclear matter. By extending baryon number to $B-L$ symmetry, baryo-majoron can be identified with the ordinary majoron associated with the spontaneous breaking of lepton number, with interesting implications for neutrinoless $2\beta$ becay with the majoron emission, etc. We also discuss a hypothesis suggesting that baryon number maybe spontaneously broken by the QCD itself via the six-quark condensates.