Physics Commons^™

Particle Physics Model For The 17 Mev Anomaly In Beryllium Nuclear Decays, Jonathan L. Feng, Bartosz Fornal, Iftah Galon, Susan Gardner, Jordan Smolinsky, Tim M. P. Tait, Philip Tanedo

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The 6.8σ anomaly in excited ⁸Be nuclear decays via internal pair creation is fit well by a new particle interpretation. In a previous analysis, we showed that a 17 MeV protophobic gauge boson provides a particle physics explanation of the anomaly consistent with all existing constraints. Here we begin with a review of the physics of internal pair creation in ⁸Be decays and the characteristics of the observed anomaly. To develop its particle interpretation, we provide an effective operator analysis for excited ⁸Be decays to particles with a variety of spins and parities and show that …