Insights from binary pulsars and laboratories into baryon number violation: Implications for GeV dark matter

Journal Article · 10 December 2024 · Physical Review. D.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.110.115010 · OSTI ID:2480744

Allahverdi, Rouzbeh ; Thompson, Adrian ; Zakeri, Mohammadreza

Rare processes in laboratory and within astrophysical environments can be highly sensitive probes of baryon-number-violating interactions at the TeV scale. We demonstrate the power of neutron stars to constrain baryon-number violation by considering a minimal extension of the standard model involving a TeV-mass scalar mediator and a GeV scale Majorana fermion $\psi$ . We find that a $\mathrm{\Delta }B=2$ mass-loss process in binary pulsar systems via $n\to \gamma \psi$ and the subsequent scattering $\psi n\to {\pi }^{-}{K}^{+}$ places stringent constraints on the model parameter space. These limits will become much stronger, due to the possibility of $\mathrm{\Lambda }\to \gamma \psi$ decays at the tree level, if the neutron star equation of state is hyperonic. We compare these constraints with ongoing and future collider experiments, $n-\overline{n}$ oscillations, and dinucleon decay searches at future large-scale neutrino experiments, finding that the binary pulsars bounds on couplings are significantly tighter for specific flavor combinations. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

• Research Organization: Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
• Grant/Contract Number: FG02-96ER40989; SC0010143
• OSTI ID: 2480744
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D., Journal Name: Physical Review. D. Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 110; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 2470-0010
• Publisher: American Physical SocietyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English