Constraining Baryon Number Violation with Neutron Stars, Probing Dark Sectors
ORAL
Abstract
Hidden-sector particles with baryon number can give rise to new decay channels of the neutron, mediating apparent baryon violation.
The very existence of neutron stars constrains the strength of such effects, and in this talk I develop how precisely determined
energy-loss constraints, particularly anomalous binary-pulsar period lengthening, limit not only the total baryon loss rate across
the star but also the parameters of the particle physics models that produce such loss. To do this, we compute the new processes
in the dense nuclear medium found at the core of a neutron star, employing the techniques of relativistic mean-field theory.
Focusing on scenarios in which the dark-sector particles do not accumulate in the star, we extract limits on in-vacuum
baryon-number-violating processes, and we determine them for various equations of state. I conclude by noting the implications
of our results for models of dark-sector-enabled baryogenesis.
The very existence of neutron stars constrains the strength of such effects, and in this talk I develop how precisely determined
energy-loss constraints, particularly anomalous binary-pulsar period lengthening, limit not only the total baryon loss rate across
the star but also the parameters of the particle physics models that produce such loss. To do this, we compute the new processes
in the dense nuclear medium found at the core of a neutron star, employing the techniques of relativistic mean-field theory.
Focusing on scenarios in which the dark-sector particles do not accumulate in the star, we extract limits on in-vacuum
baryon-number-violating processes, and we determine them for various equations of state. I conclude by noting the implications
of our results for models of dark-sector-enabled baryogenesis.
*I acknowledge partial support from the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-FG02-96ER40989.
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Publication: Neutron Stars with Baryon Number Violation, Probing Dark Sectors, J. Berryman, S. Gardner, & M. Zakeri, arXiv: 2201.02637;
How Macroscopic Limits on Neutron Star Baryon Number Loss Limit Microscopic Limits on non-Standard-Model Baryon Decay,
J. Berryman, S. Gardner, & M. Zakeri, arXiv:2305.13377
Presenters
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Susan V Gardner
- University of Kentucky