Dark particle interpretation of the neutron decay anomaly

Abstract

There is a long-standing discrepancy between the neutron lifetime measured in beam and bottle experiments. We propose to explain this anomaly by a dark decay channel for the neutron, involving a dark sector particle in the final state. If this particle is stable, it can be the dark matter. Its mass is close to the neutron mass, suggesting a connection between dark and baryonic matter. In the most interesting scenario a monochromatic photon with energy in the range 0.782 MeV – 1.664 MeV and branching fraction 1% is expected in the final state. We construct representative particle physics models consistent with all experimental constraints.