Phys. Rev. Lett.
92,
102004
(2004)
[4 pages]
Constraints on Nucleon Decay via Invisible Modes from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
S. N. Ahmed et al. SNO Collaboration
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S. N. Ahmed10, A. E. Anthony12, E. W. Beier9, A. Bellerive3, S. D. Biller8, J. Boger2, M. G. Boulay7, M. G. Bowler8, T. J. Bowles7, S. J. Brice7, T. V. Bullard14, Y. D. Chan6, M. Chen10, X. Chen6, B. T. Cleveland8, G. A. Cox14, X. Dai3,8, F. Dalnoki-Veress3, P. J. Doe14, R. S. Dosanjh3, G. Doucas8, M. R. Dragowsky7, C. A. Duba14, F. A. Duncan10, M. Dunford9, J. A. Dunmore8, E. D. Earle10, S. R. Elliott7, H. C. Evans10, G. T. Ewan10, J. Farine5,3, H. Fergani8, F. Fleurot5, J. A. Formaggio14, M. M. Fowler7, K. Frame8,3, W. Frati9, B. G. Fulsom10, N. Gagnon14,7,6,8, K. Graham10, D. R. Grant3, R. L. Hahn2, J. C. Hall12, A. L. Hallin10, E. D. Hallman5, A. S. Hamer7,*, W. B. Handler10, C. K. Hargrove3, P. J. Harvey10, R. Hazama14, K. M. Heeger6, W. J. Heintzelman9, J. Heise7, R. L. Helmer13,1, R. J. Hemingway3, A. Hime7, M. A. Howe14, P. Jagam4, N. A. Jelley8, J. R. Klein12,9, M. S. Kos10, A. V. Krumins10, T. Kutter1, C. C. M. Kyba9, H. Labranche4, R. Lange2, J. Law4, I. T. Lawson4, K. T. Lesko6, J. R. Leslie10, I. Levine3,†, S. Luoma5, R. MacLellan10, S. Majerus8, H. B. Mak10, J. Maneira10, A. D. Marino6, N. McCauley9, A. B. McDonald10, S. McGee14, G. McGregor8, C. Mifflin3, K. K. S. Miknaitis14, G. G. Miller7, B. A. Moffat10, C. W. Nally1, M. S. Neubauer9, B. G. Nickel4, A. J. Noble10,3,13, E. B. Norman6, N. S. Oblath14, C. E. Okada6, R. W. Ollerhead4, J. L. Orrell14, S. M. Oser1,9, C. Ouellet10, S. J. M. Peeters8, A. W. P. Poon6, B. C. Robertson10, R. G. H. Robertson14, E. Rollin3, S. S. E. Rosendahl6, V. L. Rusu9, M. H. Schwendener5, O. Simard3, J. J. Simpson4, C. J. Sims8, D. Sinclair3,13, P. Skensved10, M. W. E. Smith14, N. Starinsky3, R. G. Stokstad6, L. C. Stonehill14, R. Tafirout5, Y. Takeuchi10, G. Tešić3, M. Thomson10, M. Thorman8, R. Van Berg9, R. G. Van de Water7, C. J. Virtue5, B. L. Wall14, D. Waller3, C. E. Waltham1, H. Wan Chan Tseung8, D. L. Wark11, N. West8, J. B. Wilhelmy7, J. F. Wilkerson14, J. R. Wilson8, P. Wittich9, J. M. Wouters7, M. Yeh2, and K. Zuber8 (SNO Collaboration)
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z1
2Chemistry Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973-5000, USA
3Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Physics, Department of Physics, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6
4Physics Department, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
5Department of Physics and Astronomy, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6
6Institute for Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics and Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
7Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
8Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, United Kingdom
9Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6396, USA
10Department of Physics, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6
11Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
12Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-0264, USA
13TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 2A3
14Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, and Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
Received 14 October 2003; published 10 March 2004
Data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory have been used to constrain the lifetime for nucleon decay to “invisible” modes, such as n→3ν. The analysis was based on a search for γ rays from the deexcitation of the residual nucleus that would result from the disappearance of either a proton or neutron from 16O. A limit of τinv>2×1029 yr is obtained at 90% confidence for either neutron- or proton-decay modes. This is about an order of magnitude more stringent than previous constraints on invisible proton-decay modes and 400 times more stringent than similar neutron modes.
© 2004 The American Physical Society
URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.102004
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.102004
PACS:
13.30.Ce, 11.30.Fs, 14.20.Dh, 29.40.Ka
*Deceased. †Present Address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Indiana University, South Bend, IN 46615.
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