Eur. Phys. J. C 69, 591-597 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-010-1428-x

Critical examination of the “field-theoretical approach” to the neutron–antineutron oscillations in nuclei

¹ Institute for Nuclear Research of RAS, Moscow, 117312, Russia
² Departamento de Física, Centro de Estudios Subatómicos, y Centro Científico—Tecnológico de Valparaíso, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Casilla 110-V, Valparaíso, Chile

kopelio@inr.ru

Received: 7 March 2010
Revised: 10 May 2010
Published online: 8 September 2010

Abstract

We demonstrate that so called “infrared divergences” which have been discussed in some publications during several years, do not appear within the correct treatment of analytical properties of the transition amplitudes, in particular, of the second order pole structure of the amplitudes describing the n– transition in nuclei. Explicit calculation with the help of the Feynman diagram technique shows that the neutron–antineutron oscillations are strongly suppressed in the deuteron, as well as in heavier nuclei, in comparison with the oscillations in vacuum. General advantages and some difficulties of the field theoretical methods applied in nuclear theory are reminded for of the particular example of the parity violating np→d γ capture amplitude.