Neutron Optical Constraints on Exotic Parity-odd Interactions between Neutrons and Nucleons

Abstract

Many theories beyond the standard model of particle physics predict the existence of weakly-coupled exotic spin-dependent interactions between standard model particles. We use experimental upper bounds on neutron-nucleus parity violation at meV and keV neutron energies in the forward scattering limit described by neutron optics to constrain exotic parity-odd interactions of the neutron with nucleons from exotic vector boson exchange for force ranges between $10^{-2}$ to $10^{-14}$ meters.