Extraction of bounds on time-reversal non-invariance from neutron reactions

Abstract

Ratios involving on-resonance measurements of the three-fold and five-fold correlation cross sections for which the dependence on some of the unknown spectroscopic data is eliminated are considered. Closed form expressions are derived for the statistical distributions of these ratios. Implications for bounds on the variance of matrix elements of time reversal non-invariant nucleon-nucleon interactions are considered within a Bayesian framework and the competitiveness with bounds from other experiments is evaluated. The prospects for null five-fold correlation measurements improving by an order of magnitude or more upon the current bound on a parity-conserving T-odd interaction are good.