Related papers: How fast can protons decay?
We revisit the neutron lifetime puzzle, a discrepancy between beam and bottle measurements of the weak neutron decay. Since both types of measurements are realized at different times after the nuclear production of free neutrons, we argue…
After a very brief review of twentieth century elementary particle physics, prospects for the next century are discussed. First and most important are technological limits of opportunities; next, the future experimental program, and finally…
The lifetime of the metastable 3P2 state of neon has been determined to 14.70(13) s (decay rate 0.06801(62) 1/s) by measuring the decay in fluorescence of an ensemble of Ne-20 atoms trapped in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Due to low…
The survival probability of a quantum system with a finite ground energy is known to decay subexponentially at large times. Here we show that, under the same assumption, the average value of any quantum observable, whenever well-defined,…
Over the last few years a theoretical treatment for the weak decays of heavy-flavour hadrons has been developed that is genuinely based on QCD. Its methodology is described as it applies to total lifetimes, and the underlying theoretical…
Despite great advances in our understanding of the formation of the Solar System, the evolution of the Earth, and the chemical basis for life, we are not much closer than the ancient Greeks to an answer of whether life has arisen and…
Protons of energies up to 10**20 eV can be subject to significant deflection and energy dependent time delay in lage scale extragalactic or halo magnetic fields of strengths comparable to current upper limits. By performing 3-dimensional…
There is a long-standing discrepancy between the neutron lifetime measured in beam and bottle experiments. We propose to explain this anomaly by a dark decay channel for the neutron, involving one or more dark sector particles in the final…
In the present work, the connection between the smallness of the neutrino masses and the stability of the proton is studied. We analyze this connection from different perspectives: the smallness of neutrino mass and the proton stability…
Several lines of reasoning suggest that there might exist a non-sequential fourth generation of heavy quarks having very small mixing with light quarks and hence exceptionally long lifetime.
The origins of life stands among the great open scientific questions of our time. While a number of proposals exist for possible starting points in the pathway from non-living to living matter, these have so far not achieved states of…
Below the knee in the cosmic ray spectrum, balloon and spacecraft experiments offer the capability of direct composition and energy measurements on the primary particles. A major difficulty is obtaining enough exposure to extend the range…
We explore the fate of the universe given the possibility that the density associated with `dark energy' may decay slowly with time. Decaying dark energy is modeled by a homogeneous scalar field which couples minimally to gravity and whose…
The amount of decaying dark matter, accumulated in the central regions in neutron stars together with the energy deposition rate from decays, may set a limit on the neutron star survival rate against transitions to more compact objects…
We study the stability of bound antiprotons in close proximity to the atomic nucleus. Using experimental data from X-ray spectroscopy measurements of antiprotonic atom transitions, we tune a minimal theoretical framework and estimate…
We have searched for nucleon decay into five two-body final states using a 4.4 kiloton-year fiducial exposure of the Soudan 2 iron tracking calorimeter. For proton decay into the fully visible final states mu+ eta and e+ eta, we observe…
We demonstrate a compatibility between the relativity principle and the clock postulate in deformed special relativity, by identifying the relevant deformed Lorentz transformations in position space between arbitrary frames. This result…
Oceanic planets formed by type Ia supernovae become spectacularly abundant as stars cease to shine. However, the timing may not be altogether inappropriate. Neutrino annihilation might thermally regulate iron-cored water-worlds, sustaining…
If neutrinos have masses and mixings, in general some will decay. In models with new particles and new couplings, some decay modes can be fast enough to be of phenomenological interest.
When a hydrogen atom trapped in finite space formed by two parallel perfectly conducting plates, the transition rates can be modified. Life-time of the hydrogen $2P_{1/2}$-state is estimated to be shorter as much as $56.3ps $ with a…