![]() Matters are further complicated by the fact that there is also an electron anti-neutrino involved in the reaction. The main problem is that there is a lot of kinetic energy left over after the decay and the electron and proton don't stay around long enough to bind into a stable hydrogen atom. Yes, it can happen but very, very infrequently. GUTs are not accepted scientific theory, because there is noĮxperimental evidence for them. Inside and create flashes of light which can confuse the results. They are underground because cosmic rays can penetrate Of water underground, with sensitive light-amplifying detectors allĪround the tank. The more the better! The big experiments are gigantic tanks em for a year (all the while, being sensitive to single decayĮvents!). You dont necessarily need to wait 10^33 years (or more, who Than if they all decayed the same way and some experiment turning up Each kind of decayĬan "sneak under our limit" and the sum of all of them can be larger Sensitive than if protons all decayed the same way. Lots of experiments looking for each one separately, we will be less That if protons decayed by a variety of different mechanisms, and we do The 25th power years, allowing any combination of decay possibilities,Īnd typically around ten to the 31st power to 10 to the 33rd power The lower limit on the proton lifetime is 1.6 times 10 to Neutrino this is one of the things people look for when they seek It must decay into somethingĮlse, such as maybe a pion and a positron and an electron-type But in some nuclei, neutron decay is possible andĪ proton cannot decay into a lighter baryon (particle made up of (because of Paulis exclusion principle keeping it out of lower-lyingĮnergy levels), and the total energy doesnt add up to enough to allow Into a proton, it would have to find a place in a higher-energy level TheĮnergy levels inside nuclei are such that if a neutron were to decay Some nuclei inįact decay in exactly this way - one of the neutrons decays). Inside of atomic nuclei (well, many kinds of nuclei. Neutrons decay when by themselves but do not do so when bound Protons that decayed via the weak interaction and not neutrons. ![]() Which can be formulated as - why is the W boson heavy? It has a mass Mysteries about the weak interaction (Why is it there? Why is it weak? Up-type quark), and the electron and antineutrino. ![]() Understood process of the weak interaction, by exchange of a virtual W-īoson between a down-type quark in the neutron (changing it into an Neutrons decay into a proton, an electron, and anĮlectron-type antineutrino. The lifetime of a neutron all by itself isĪbout 886 seconds. Protons have not been observed to decay, but ![]()
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