Search for invisible modes of nucleon decay in water with the SNO+ detector

Journal Article · Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Physical Review. D.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.99.032008· OSTI ID:1495231

Anderson, M.; Andringa, S.; Arushanova, E.; Asahi, S.; Askins, M.; Auty, D. J.; Back, A. R.; Barnard, Z.; Barros, N.; Bartlett, D.; Barão, F.; Bayes, R.; Beier, E. W.; Bialek, A.; Biller, S. D.; Blucher, E.; Bonventre, R.; Boulay, M.; Braid, D.; Caden, E. ; Callaghan, E. J.; Caravaca, J.; Carvalho, J.; Cavalli, L.; Chauhan, D.; Chen, M.; Chkvorets, O.; Clark, K. J.; Cleveland, B.; Connors, C.; Coulter, I. T.; Cressy, D.; Dai, X.; Darrach, C.; Davis-Purcell, B.; Depatie, M. M.; Descamps, F.; Di Lodovico, F.; Duhaime, N.; Duncan, F.; Dunger, J.; Falk, E.; Fatemighomi, N.; Fischer, V.; Fletcher, E.; Ford, R.; Gagnon, N.; Gilje, K.; Gorel, P.; Graham, K.; Grant, C.; Grove, J.; Grullon, S.; Guillian, E.; Hallin, A. L.; Hallman, D.; Hans, S.; Hartnell, J.; Harvey, P.; Hedayatipour, M.; Heintzelman, W. J.; Heise, J.; Helmer, R. L.; Hernández-Hernández, J. L.; Hreljac, B.; Hu, J.; Iida, T.; Inácio, A. S.; Jackson, C. M.; Jelley, N. A.; Jillings, C. J.; Jones, C.; Jones, P. G.; Kamdin, K.; Kaptanoglu, T.; Kaspar, J.; Keeter, K.; Kefelian, C.; Khaghani, P.; Kippenbrock, L.; Klein, J. R.; Knapik, R.; Kofron, J.; Kormos, L. L.; Krar, B.; Kraus, C.; Krauss, C. B.; Kroupova, T.; Labe, K.; Lam, I.; Lan, C.; Land, B. J.; Lane, R.; Langrock, S.; LaTorre, A.; Lawson, I.; Lebanowski, L.; Lefeuvre, G. M.; Leming, E. J.; Li, A.; Lidgard, J.; Liggins, B.; Liu, X.; Liu, Y.; Lozza, V.; Luo, M.; Maguire, S.; Maio, A.; Majumdar, K.; Manecki, S.; Maneira, J.; Martin, R. D.; Marzec, E.; Mastbaum, A.; McCauley, N.; McDonald, A. B.; McMillan, J. E.; Mekarski, P.; Meyer, M.; Miller, C.; Mlejnek, M.; Mony, E.; Morton-Blake, I.; Mottram, M. J.; Nae, S.; Nirkko, M.; Novikov, V.; O’Keeffe, H. M.; O’Sullivan, E.; Orebi Gann, G. D.; Parnell, M. J.; Paton, J.; Peeters, S. J. M.; Pershing, T.; Petriw, Z.; Pickard, L.; Pracsovics, D.; Prior, G.; Prouty, J. C.; Quirk, S.; Reichold, A.; Richardson, R.; Rigan, M.; Robertson, A.; Rose, J.; Rosero, R.; Rost, P. M.; Rumleskie, J.; Schumaker, M. A.; Schwendener, M. H.; Scislowski, D.; Secrest, J.; Seddighin, M.; Segui, L.; Seibert, S.; Semenec, I.; Shantz, T.; Shokair, T. M.; Sibley, L.; Sinclair, J. R.; Singh, K.; Skensved, P.; Sonley, T.; Stainforth, R.; Strait, M.; Stringer, M. I.; Svoboda, R.; Sörensen, A.; Tam, B.; Tatar, J.; Tian, L.; Tolich, N.; Tseng, J.; Tseung, H. W. C.; Turner, E.; Van Berg, R.; Veinot, J. G. C.; Virtue, C. J.; von Krosigk, B.; Vázquez-Jáuregui, E.; Walker, J. M. G.; Walker, M.; Wang, J.; Wasalski, O.; Waterfield, J.; Weigand, J. J.; White, R. F.; Wilson, J. R.; Winchester, T. J.; Woosaree, P.; Wright, A.; Yanez, J. P.; Yeh, M.; Zhao, T.; Zuber, K.; Zummo, A.

This paper reports results from a search for nucleon decay through invisible modes, where no visible energy is directly deposited during the decay itself, during the initial water phase of $$\mathrm{SNO}+$$. However, such decays within the oxygen nucleus would produce an excited daughter that would subsequently deexcite, often emitting detectable gamma rays. A search for such gamma rays yields limits of $$2.5\times{}{10}^{29}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{y}$$ at 90% Bayesian credibility level (with a prior uniform in rate) for the partial lifetime of the neutron, and $$3.6\times{}{10}^{29}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{y}$$ for the partial lifetime of the proton, the latter a 70% improvement on the previous limit from SNO. We also present partial lifetime limits for invisible dinucleon modes of $$1.3\times{}{10}^{28}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{y}$$ for $nn$, $$2.6\times{}{10}^{28}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{y}$$ for $pn$ and $$4.7\times{}{10}^{28}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{y}$$ for $pp$, an improvement over existing limits by close to 3 orders of magnitude for the latter two.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• Contributing Organization: The SNO+ Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231; SC0012704; SC0009999
• OSTI ID: 1495231
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1501563; OSTI ID: 1550874; OSTI ID: 1595447
• Report Number(s): BNL-211418-2019-JAAM; PRVDAQ; 032008
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D., Journal Name: Physical Review. D. Vol. 99 Journal Issue: 3; ISSN 2470-0010
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
invisible decays
particle decays
rare decays
Cherenkov detectors
neutrino detectors
grand unification proton decay