A new approach to search for free neutron-antineutron oscillations using coherent neutron propagation in gas

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method using coherent neutron propagation in gas to enhance the search for neutron-antineutron oscillations, potentially increasing detection sensitivity by tuning gas density to cancel magnetic effects.

Contribution

It introduces a new experimental approach leveraging gas-induced neutron optical potential tuning to improve neutron-antineutron oscillation detection.

Findings

The method can increase transition probability to near free neutron oscillation rates.

Tuning gas density cancels magnetic field effects on neutron propagation.

Potential to significantly improve experimental sensitivity for $n-ar{n}$ searches.

Abstract

Coherent forward neutron propagation in gas is discussed as a new approach to search for neutron-antineutron oscillations ($ n-\bar{n}$), which violate both $B$ and $B-L$ conservation. We show that one can increase the probability of neutron - antineutron transitions to essentially the free neutron oscillation rate in the presence of a nonzero external magnetic field by tuning the density of an appropriate mixture of gases so that the neutron optical potential of the gas cancels that from an external magnetic field.