Abstract
The neutron lifetime anomaly has been used to motivate the introduction of new physics with hidden-sector particles coupled to baryon number, and on which neutron stars provide powerful constraints. Although the neutron lifetime anomaly may eventually prove to be of mundane origin, we use it as motivation for a broader review of the ways that baryon number violation, be it real or apparent, and dark sectors can intertwine and how neutron star observables, both present and future, can constrain them.
Highlights
Neutron stars are remarkable for their very existence: they are the densest objects known in the observable Universe
In this article we focus on extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with baryon number violation (BNV), that may entwine with dark sectors—dark or hidden sectors are comprised of particles that are uncharged under the SM gauge groups
Processes with larger violations have received significantly less theoretical and experimental interest, though some constraints do exist [226–229]. These processes are only operative at high temperatures and naturally allow for BNV in the early Universe; these are inoperative at the energy scales we consider, and we refer to Ref. [230] for a detailed study in SM lattice gauge theory, though we note the exploration of possible exceptions [231–233].) We note, that these operators would be suppressed by relatively high powers of the scale Λ, allowing for small rates of baryon number violation to be connected to relatively low-scale new physics
Summary
Neutron stars are remarkable for their very existence: they are the densest objects known in the observable Universe. A neutron star is an exquisitely sensitive environment in which to study the possibility of new sources of baryon number violation (BNV). Our focus emerges from two connected ideas: that the long-standing neutron lifetime anomaly [20] could be resolved through “dark” decay channels of the neutron [21] and that the structure—and even existence—of neutron stars is extremely sensitive to the existence of such decay channels, at least at the strength required to explain the neutron lifetime anomaly [22–24]. This connection begs for a more systematic study. We turn to a brief assessment of the broader ways in which dark sectors can impact neutron star observables before offering our final summary
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