Discovery of the neutron radiative decay

This paper gives a brief overview of the present and expected future limits on physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) from neutron beta decay, which is described by two parameters only within the SM. Since more than two observables are accessible, the problem is over-determined. Thus, precise measurements of correlations in neutron decay can be used to study the SM as well to search for evidence of possible extensions to it. Of particular interest in this context are the sear...

Since the discovery of nuclear beta decay, nuclear physicists have studied the weak interaction and the nature of neutrinos. Many recent and current experiments have been focused on the elucidation of neutrino oscillations and neutrino mass. The quest for the absolute value of neutrino mass continues with higher precision studies of the tritium beta decay spectrum near the endpoint. Neutrino oscillations are studied through measurements of reactor neutrinos as a function of b...

The search for neutrinoless double beta decay is a rich source for new physics. The observation of this decay will lead to understanding of the absolute mass scale of neutrinos, the Majorana nature of the neutrino (whether the neutrino is its own anti-particle), and lepton number violation. Double beta decay is being investigated around the world by several experiments using different candidate isotopes. There has been much progress made in experimental techniques recently su...

At least one neutrino has a mass of about 50 meV or larger. However, the absolute mass scale for the neutrino remains unknown. Studies of double beta decay offer hope for determining the absolute mass scale. Furthermore, the critical question: Is the neutrino its own antiparticle? is unanswered. In particular, zero-neutrino double beta decay can address the issues of lepton number conservation, the particle-antiparticle nature of the neutrino, and its mass. A summary of the r...

Study of the neutrinoless double beta decay and searches for the manifestation of the neutrino mass in ordinary beta decay are the main sources of information about the absolute neutrino mass scale, and the only practical source of information about the charge conjugation properties of the neutrinos. Thus, these studies have a unique role in the plans for better understanding of the whole fast expanding field of neutrino physics.

Core collapse of massive stars and binary neutron stars or black hole-neutron star binary mergers are likely progenitors of long and short duration gamma-ray bursts respectively. Neutronized material in the former and neutron star material in the latter are ejected by the central engine implying a neutron-rich jet outflow. A free neutron, however, beta decays to a proton, an electron (beta) and an anti-neutrino in about fifteen minutes in its rest frame. Sudden creation of a ...

The search for neutrino-less double-beta decay has been a very active field of research in the last decade. Neutrino-less double-beta decay may answer essential open questions in neutrino physics. While double-beta decay accompanied by the emission of two neutrinos is allowed by the Standard Model, the neutrino-less process requires neutrinos to be Majorana particles. Detecting this decay could determine the nature of neutrinos, the neutrino effective mass, and the mass hiera...

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay is a hypothesised nuclear process in which two neutrons simultaneously decay into protons with no neutrino emission. The prized observation of this decay would point to the existence of a process that violates a fundamental symmetry of the Standard Model of Particle Physics, and would allow to establish the nature of neutrinos. Today, the lower limits on the half-life of this process exceed 10$^{25}$-10$^{26}$ yr. I will review the current statu...

This White Paper, prepared for the Fundamental Symmetries, Neutrons, and Neutrinos Town Meeting related to the 2023 Nuclear Physics Long Range Plan, makes the case for double beta decay as a critical component of the future nuclear physics program. The major experimental collaborations and many theorists have endorsed this white paper.

In the framework of the Standard Model (SM) a theoretical description of the neutron beta decay is given at the level of 10^{-5}. The neutron lifetime and correlation coefficients of the neutron beta decay for a polarized neutron, a polarized electron and an unpolarized proton are calculated at the account for i) the radiative corrections of order O(\alpha E_e/m_N) ~ 10^{-5} to Sirlin's outer and inner radiative corrections of order O(\alpha/\pi), ii) the corrections of order...