Slow neutrons possess several advantageous properties which make them useful probes for a variety of exotic interactions, including some that can form at least some components of the dark matter of interest for this issue of Symmetry. We discuss the relevant neutron properties, describe some of the recent work that has been done along these lines using neutron experiments mainly with cold and ultra-cold neutrons, and outline some interesting and exciting opportunities which can be pursued using resonant epithermal neutron interactions in heavy nuclei.

Recently published results and ongoing experimental efforts to search for deviations from the inverse square law of gravity at the nanometer length scale using slow neutron scattering from the noble gases are discussed. Using the pulsed slow neutron beamline BL05 at the Materials and Life Sciences Facility at J-PARC, we measured the neutron momentum transfer (q) dependence of the differential scattering cross section for the noble gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe. By comparing to the distributions obtained using pseudo-experimental Monte Carlo simulations and forming ratios between Xe and He, we placed an upper bound on the strength of a new interaction as a function of interaction length λ which improved upon previous results in the region λ < 0.1 nm, and remains competitive in the larger λ region. Additionally we describe how we are using our technique to extract relative values of the total neutron scattering cross sections of the noble gases, as well as how we plan to measure the neutron-electron scattering length using the NOVA instrument on BL21 at J-PARC.