2015: Test of electric charge conservation with Borexino

Physical Review Letters, 2015 vol. 115 no. 23

Agostini M., et al. (Borexino Collaboration) M. Wójcik, G. Zuzel, M. Misiaszek, K. Jędrzejczak

Physics logo See Synopsis: Still Waiting For Electron Decay

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.231802

Abstract

Borexino is a liquid scintillation detector located deep underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS, Italy). Thanks to the unmatched radio purity of the scintillator, and to the well understood detector response at low energy, a new limit on the stability of the electron for decay into a neutrino and a single monoenergetic photon was obtained. This new bound, τ≥6.6×1028  yr at 90% C.L., is 2 orders of magnitude better than the previous limit.