Limits on the neutron-antineutron oscillation time from the stability of nuclei
Résumé
We refute a recent claim by Nazaruk that the limits placed on the free--space neutron--antineutron oscillation time τnnˉ\tau_{{n\bar n}}τnnˉ can be improved by many orders of magnitude with respect to the estimate τnnˉ>2(T0/Γ) 1/2\tau_{{n\bar n}}>2(T_0/\Gamma)~{1/2}τnnˉ>2(T0/Γ) 1/2, where T0T_0T0 is a measured limit on the annihilation lifetime of a nucleus and Γ∼100\Gamma\sim 100Γ∼100 MeV is a typical antineutron-nucleus annihilation width.