New experimental limits on violations of the Pauli exclusion principle obtained with the Borexino counting test facility

Abstract : The Pauli exclusion principle (PEP) has been tested for nucleons ($n,p$) in $^{12}C$ and $^{16}O$ nuclei, using the results of background measurements with the prototype of the Borexino detector, the Counting Test Facility (CTF). The approach consisted of a search for $\gamma$, $n$, $p$ and/or $\alpha$'s emitted in a non-Paulian transition of 1$P$- shell nucleons to the filled 1$S_{1/2}$ shell in nuclei. Similarly, the Pauli-forbidden $\beta^{\pm}$ decay processes were searched for. Due to the extremely low background and the large mass (4.2 tons) of the CTF detector, the following most stringent up-to-date experimental bounds on PEP violating transitions of nucleons have been established: $\tau(^{12}C\to^{12}\widetilde{C}+\gamma) > 2.1\cdot10^{27}$ y, $\tau(^{12}C\to^{11}\widetilde{B}+ p) > 5.0\cdot10^{26}$ y, $\tau(^{12}C(^{16}O)\to^{11}\widetilde{C}(^{15}\widetilde{O})+ n) > 3.7 \cdot 10^{26}$ y, $\tau(^{12}C\to^{8}\widetilde{Be}+\alpha) > 6.1 \cdot 10^{23}$ y, $\tau(^{12}C\to^{12}\widetilde{N}+ e^- + \widetilde{\nu_e})> 7.6 \cdot 10^{27}$ y and $\tau(^{12}C\to^{12}\widetilde{B}+ e^+ + \nu_e)> 7.7 \cdot 10^{27}$ y, all at 90% C.L.
Document type :
Journal articles

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Submitted on : Tuesday, August 31, 2004 - 2:26:20 PM
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Citation

H.O. Back, M. Balata, A. de Bari, A. de Bellefon, G. Bellini, et al.. New experimental limits on violations of the Pauli exclusion principle obtained with the Borexino counting test facility. European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields, Springer Verlag (Germany), 2004, 37, pp.421-431. ⟨10.1140/epjc/s2004-01991-1⟩. ⟨in2p3-00022181⟩

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