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New limits on the Pauli forbidden transitions in 12C nuclei obtained with the complete Borexino dataset

  • Borexino Collaboration
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy
  • University of California, Irvine
  • GSI Helmholtz Center
  • Boston University
  • Jagiellonian University
  • Technische Universität Dresden
  • Sezione INFN di Genova
  • Institute of Physics and Excellence Cluster PRISMA+
  • Technical University of Munich
  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  • Joint Inst. for Nuclear Research
  • Petersburg Nuclear Phys. Inst.
  • Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso
  • Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ)
  • RWTH Aachen University
  • ISPRA
  • National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute"
  • National Research Nuclear University MEPhI
  • INFN Sezione di Milano
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Princeton University
  • Johannes Gutenberg University
  • INFN Sezione di Perugia
  • University of London
  • Institute for Nuclear Research (MTA-ATOMKI)
  • Forestry Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
  • Sezione INFN di Milano Bicocca
  • Moscow State University
  • Université Paris Diderot
  • Institute of High Energy Physics Chinese Academy of Science
  • Gran Sasso Science Institute
  • Department of Chemical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The Pauli exclusion principle (PEP) was tested for nucleons in 12C nuclei using the Borexino dataset from 2007 to 2021. The approach consists of searching for γ-quanta, neutrons, protons, as well as electrons and positrons emitted in non-Paulian transitions of nucleons from the 1P3/2 shell to the filled 1S1/2 shell. Due to the uniquely low background level, the large mass, and long measurement time of the Borexino detector, the most stringent experimental constraints to date on the lifetime of the 12C nucleus with respect to PEP-forbidden transitions were obtained: τ(12C→12C~+γ)≥1.1×1032 y, τ(12C→11B~+p)≥1.0×1031 y, τ(12C→11C~+n)≥2.0×1031 y, τ(12C→12N~+e-+ν¯e)≥6.4×1030 y and τ(12C→12B~+e++νe)≥6.6×1030 y (90% C.L.). The upper limits on the relative strengths for the non-Paulian electromagnetic, strong, and weak transitions have been obtained: δγ2≤1.0×10-57, δN2≤7.0×10-61 and δβ2≤9.6×10-36, all at 90% C.L.

Original languageEnglish
Article number736
JournalEuropean Physical Journal C
Volume86
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2026

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