Abstract
The Pauli exclusion principle (PEP) has been tested for nucleons (n,p) in C12 with the Borexino detector. The approach consists of a search for γ, n, p, and β± emitted in a non-Paulian transition of 1P3/2-shell nucleons to the filled 1S1/2 shell in nuclei. Due to the extremely low background and the large mass (278 tons) of the Borexino detector, the following most stringent up-to-date experimental bounds on PEP violating transitions of nucleons have been established: τ(12C→12C~+γ) ≥5.0×1031 yr, τ(12C→11B~+p)≥8.9×1029 yr, τ(12C→11C~+n)≥3.4×1030 yr, τ(12C→12N~+e -+νe~)≥3.1×1030 yr, and τ(12C→12B~+e ++νe)≥2.1×1030 yr, all at 90% C.L. The corresponding upper limits on the relative strengths for the searched non-Paulian electromagnetic, strong and weak transitions have been estimated as δγ2≤2.2×10-57, δN2≤4.1×10 -60, and δβ2≤2.1×10-35.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 034317 |
Journal | Physical Review C - Nuclear Physics |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 29 2010 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics