Weak Interactions Effect on the P-N Mass Splitting and the Principle of Equivalence

Abstract

The weak interaction contribution to the proton neutron mass difference is computed using a generalization of Cottingham's formula. When included in the analysis of the Eotvos experiment, this contribution reduces the bound on a possible weak interactions violation to the equivalence principle by one order of magnitude.

Comments: LaTex, 12 pages, 2 tables. A shorter version appeared in proceedings of Zacatecas 2001 Workshop on Particles and Fields. References added, typos corrected