Muon-induced baryon number violation
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The search for charged-lepton flavor violation in muon capture on nuclei is a powerful probe of heavy new physics. A smoking gun signal for μ → e conversion is a monochromatic electron with energy almost equal to the muon mass. We show that light new physics can mimic this signature and that it can also lead to electrons above the μ → e signal peak. A concrete example of such light new physics is μ − -nucleon annihilation into a light dark sector, which can produce an energetic e − as well as e + e − by-products. Due to the size of the muon mass, the exotic muon capture process can be kinematically allowed, while the otherwise stringent constraints, e.g., from proton decay, are kinematically forbidden. We also discuss other relevant constraints, including those from the stability of nuclei and muon capture in the interior of neutron stars. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: G154696372, G1895126726, NEW PHYSICS FROM THE NEUTRINO PORTAL: EARLY UNIVERSE IMPLICATIONS AND DETECTION PROSPECTS, G2595738051, G2971410597, G3448457852, Elements: Machine Learning Quark Hadronization, THEORETICAL HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, G5616713406, G585908603, G638484911, Programs on Critical Problems in Physics, Astrophysics and Biophysics at the Aspen Center for Physics, PROPOSAL TO STUDY THE PROPERTIES AND INTERACTIONS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES, G86560745, RESEARCH IN PARTICLE THEORY AND EXPERIMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, G969889393
OpenAlex ID: W4403456675