Direct Experimental Limit on Neutron Mirror-Neutron Oscillations

In case a mirror world with a copy of our ordinary particle spectrum would exist, the neutron n and its degenerate partner, the mirror neutron n^', could potentially mix and undergo nn^' oscillations. The interaction of an ordinary magnetic field with the ordinary neutron would lift the degeneracy between the mirror partners, diminish the n^' amplitude in the n wave function and, thus, suppress its observability. We report an experimental comparison of ultracold neutron storage in a trap with and without superimposed magnetic field. No influence of the magnetic field is found and, assuming negligible mirror magnetic fields, a limit on the oscillation time τ_nn^'>103s (95% C.L.) is derived.