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Dynamical Evidence For a Fifth Force Explanation of the ATOMKI Nuclear Anomalies

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arxiv 2006.01151 v2 pith:EEFXNTZM submitted 2020-06-01 hep-ph hep-exnucl-exnucl-th

classification hep-phhep-exnucl-exnucl-th
keywords evidencenuclearanomaliesbosonexplanationfifthforcevector
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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abstract

Recent anomalies in $^8$Be and $^4$He nuclear decays can be explained by postulating a fifth force mediated by a new boson $X$. The distributions of both transitions are consistent with the same $X$ mass, 17 MeV, providing kinematic evidence for a single new particle explanation. In this work, we examine whether the new results also provide dynamical evidence for a new particle explanation, that is, whether the observed decay rates of both anomalies can be described by a single hypothesis for the $X$ boson's interactions. We consider the observed $^8$Be and $^4$He excited nuclei, as well as a $^{12}$C excited nucleus; together these span the possible $J^P$ quantum numbers up to spin 1. For each transition, we determine whether scalar, pseudoscalar, vector, or axial vector $X$ particles can mediate the decay, and we construct the leading operators in a nuclear physics effective field theory that describes them. Assuming parity conservation, the scalar case is excluded and the pseudoscalar case is highly disfavored. Remarkably, however, the protophobic vector gauge boson, first proposed to explain only the $^8$Be anomaly, also explains the $^4$He anomaly within experimental uncertainties. We predict signal rates for other closely related nuclear measurements, which, if confirmed, will provide overwhelming evidence that a fifth force has been discovered.

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Forward citations

Cited by 7 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Possible Evidence for Neutral Color-Singlet $q\bar q$ Quark Matter from High-Energy Pb-Emulsion Collisions

    hep-ph 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 7.0 of 10

    The complex e+e- invariant mass spectrum below 50 MeV is attributed to thermal annihilation and bound states of QED-deconfined and confined neutral q bar q quark matter.

  2. Updated E141 constraints on a long-lived $X_{17}$ vector boson

    hep-ph 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A refined simulation of SLAC E141 shows the experiment's old exclusion region does not cover the 16.9 MeV X17, leaving a window at ε_e between 6.5e-5 and 1.1e-4.

  3. Flavor specific chiral $U(1)_X$ framework for explaining the ATOMKI anomaly

    hep-ph 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

    A gauged, flavor-specific U(1)_X two-Higgs-doublet model can realize the axial-vector Z' couplings needed to explain the ATOMKI 8Be and 4He anomalies while evading current bounds.

  4. The X17 with Chiral Couplings

    hep-ph 2026-02 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A spin-1 X17 with chiral couplings fits the ATOMKI nuclear anomalies at 99% CL only in a parameter region that atomic parity violation and KLOE-2/NA64 exclude, driven mainly by the 12C(17.23) transition.

  5. Probing the ATOMKI X17 vector boson using Dalitz decays $V\to Pe^+e^-$

    hep-ph 2025-06 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    In a quark-model calculation, X17 contributions to D*, B*, and J/psi Dalitz decays are too small to explain the BESIII D*0 e+e- excess unless quark couplings are far outside ATOMKI-favored ranges.

  6. Potential for the discovery of the protophobic boson at the STCF

    hep-ph 2025-12 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Detector-level simulations indicate the proposed STCF drift chamber could discover the 17 MeV protophobic X17 boson through displaced electron-positron vertices if Standard Model backgrounds stay below about 10^4 even...

  7. Where to find $X(17)$?

    hep-ph 2026-01 reject novelty 4.0 of 10

    Combining existing bounds with a new parity-violating Møller asymmetry constraint, the paper's body claims no surviving parameter space for scalar, pseudoscalar, vector, axial-vector, or V±A X(17)-electron couplings.

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