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

• Published in: arXiv.org 2022-06
• Main Authors: SNO+ Collaboration, Allega, A, Anderson, M R, Andringa, S, Askins, M, Auty, D J, Bacon, A, Barão, F, Beier, E W, Bezerra, T S, Bialek, A, Biller, S D, Blucher, E, Caden, E, Callaghan, E J, Cheng, S, Chen, M, Chkvorets, O, Cleveland, B, Cookman, D, Corning, J, Cox, M A, Depatie, M M, Dittmer, J, Dixon, K H, F Di Lodovico, Falk, E, Fatemighomi, N, d, R, Frankiewicz, K, Gaur, A, González-Reina, O I, Gooding, D, Grant, C, Grove, J, Hartnell, J, Heintzelman, W J, Helmer, R L, J Hu, Hunt-Stokes, R, Hussain, S M A, Inácio, A S, Jillings, C J, Kaptanoglu, T, Khan, H, Krar, B, Kraus, C, Krauss, C B, Kroupová, T, Lam, I, Land, B J, Lawson, I, Lebanowski, L, Lefebvre, C, Lidgard, J, Lozza, V, Luo, M, Maio, A, Manecki, S, Maneira, J, Martin, R D, McCauley, N, McDonald, A B, Meyer, M, Mills, C, Morton-Blake, I, Naugle, S, O'Keeffe, H M, Orebi Gann, G D, Page, J, Parker, W, Paton, J, Peeters, S J M, Pickard, L, Ravi, P, Reichold, A, Riccetto, S, Richardson, R, M Rigan, Rose, J, Semenec, I, Skensved, P, Smiley, M, Svoboda, R, Tam, B, Tseng, J, Turner, E, Valder, S, Virtue, C J, Vázquez-Jáuregui, E, Wang, J, Ward, M, Weigand, J J, Wilson, J R, Wright, A, Yanez, J P, Yang, S, Yeh, M, Zhang, Y, Zuber, K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Emissions control; Gamma emission; Gamma rays; Nucleons; Sensors
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2205.06400

This paper reports results from a search for single and multi-nucleon disappearance from the \(^{16}\)O nucleus in water within the \snoplus{} detector using all of the available data. These so-called "invisible" decays do not directly deposit energy within the detector but are instead detected through their subsequent nuclear de-excitation and gamma-ray emission. New limits are given for the partial lifetimes: \(\tau(n\rightarrow inv) > 9.0\times10^{29}\) years, \(\tau(p\rightarrow inv) > 9.6\times10^{29}\) years, \(\tau(nn\rightarrow inv) > 1.5\times10^{28}\) years, \(\tau(np\rightarrow inv) > 6.0\times10^{28}\) years, and \(\tau(pp\rightarrow inv) > 1.1\times10^{29}\) years at 90\% Bayesian credibility level (with a prior uniform in rate). All but the (\(nn\rightarrow inv\)) results improve on existing limits by a factor of about 3.