Hybrid analysis of radiative corrections to neutron decay with current algebra and effective field theory

Abstract

We introduce a useful framework for high-precision studies of the neutron beta decay by merging the current algebra description and the fixed-order effective field theory calculation of the electroweak radiative corrections to the neutron axial form factor. We discuss the advantages of this hybrid method and show that it only requires a minimal amount of lattice QCD inputs to achieve a 10−4 theory accuracy for the Standard Model prediction of the neutron lifetime and the axial-to-vector coupling ratio λ, both important to the search for physics beyond the Standard Model.