Searching for Hidden Neutrons with a Reactor Neutrino Experiment: Constraints from the STEREO Experiment
Abstract
Different extensions of the standard model of particle physics, such as braneworld or mirror matter models, predict the existence of a neutron sterile state, possibly as a dark matter candidate. This Letter reports a new experimental constraint on the probability p for neutron conversion into a hidden neutron, set by the STEREO experiment at the high flux reactor of the Institut Laue-Langevin. The limit is p<3.1× 10-11 at 95 \% C.L. improving the previous limit by a factor 13. This result demonstrates that short-baseline neutrino experiments can be used as competitive passing-through-walls neutron experiments to search for hidden neutrons.
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