Do the X17 boson and a new fifth force exist?

Wolfgang Mittig, Michigan State University
Thursday, Jan 16, 11:00 AM - Research Discussion
1200 FRIB Laboratory

Abstract:  In November 2019, a firework of articles in scientific publications and non-scientific newspapers announced the possible discovery of a new boson of a mass of about 17 MeV as eventually observed in pair creation in light nuclei that could be related to a fifth force. The indications ("Atomky anomaly"), often quite contradictory, of such a boson have quite a long history going back more than 30 years. The renewed interest was partially motivated by a very recent claim, by the same team, to have observed this boson in the 3H+proton system giving a result compatible with the previous results of the 7Li+proton system. Both results were obtained by only one team and merit closer scrutiny. An experiment is planned in the near future with the pAT-TPC.