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Constraining Baryon Number Violation with Neutron Stars, Probing Dark Sectors

ORAL

Abstract

Hidden-sector particles with baryon number can give rise to new decay channels of the neutron, mediating apparent baryon violation.

The very existence of neutron stars constrains the strength of such effects, and in this talk I develop how precisely determined

energy-loss constraints, particularly anomalous binary-pulsar period lengthening, limit not only the total baryon loss rate across

the star but also the parameters of the particle physics models that produce such loss. To do this, we compute the new processes

in the dense nuclear medium found at the core of a neutron star, employing the techniques of relativistic mean-field theory.

Focusing on scenarios in which the dark-sector particles do not accumulate in the star, we extract limits on in-vacuum

baryon-number-violating processes, and we determine them for various equations of state. I conclude by noting the implications

of our results for models of dark-sector-enabled baryogenesis.

Publication: Neutron Stars with Baryon Number Violation, Probing Dark Sectors, J. Berryman, S. Gardner, & M. Zakeri, arXiv: 2201.02637; <br>How Macroscopic Limits on Neutron Star Baryon Number Loss Limit Microscopic Limits on non-Standard-Model Baryon Decay, <br>J. Berryman, S. Gardner, & M. Zakeri, arXiv:2305.13377

Presenters

  • Susan V Gardner

    University of Kentucky

Authors

  • Jeffrey Berryman

    University of California, Berkeley; University of Washington; Virginia Polytechnic University

  • Susan V Gardner

    University of Kentucky

  • Mohammadreza Zakeri

    University of Kentucky