Is There a Sign of New Physics in Beryllium Transitions?

TL;DR

The paper reviews the beryllium-8 anomaly, analyzing experimental data and models involving a new light gauge boson, and discusses future experimental prospects to verify this potential sign of new physics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive phenomenological analysis of the beryllium-8 anomaly and evaluates models with a new light protophobic gauge boson.

Findings

Analysis supports the anomaly as a potential sign of new physics.

Models with a light protophobic gauge boson can explain the observed signal.

Future experiments could confirm or refute the anomaly.

Abstract

We discuss the current status of the anomaly in beryllium-8 nuclear transitions recently reported in the angular distribution of internal conversion electron-positron pairs. We present a phenomenological analysis of the signal and review the models proposed to explain it, focusing on those involving a new light protophobic vector gauge boson. We also elaborate on the prospects of verifying the anomaly in present and future experiments.