Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 161603 (2007) [4 pages]Direct Experimental Limit on Neutron–Mirror-Neutron OscillationsReceived 16 May 2007; published 19 October 2007 In case a mirror world with a copy of our ordinary particle spectrum would exist, the neutron n and its degenerate partner, the mirror neutron n′, could potentially mix and undergo nn′ oscillations. The interaction of an ordinary magnetic field with the ordinary neutron would lift the degeneracy between the mirror partners, diminish the n′ amplitude in the n wave function and, thus, suppress its observability. We report an experimental comparison of ultracold neutron storage in a trap with and without superimposed magnetic field. No influence of the magnetic field is found and, assuming negligible mirror magnetic fields, a limit on the oscillation time τnn′>103 s (95% C.L.) is derived. © 2007 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.161603
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.161603
PACS:
14.80.−j, 11.30.Er, 11.30.Fs, 14.20.Dh
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