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

• Main Author: SNO+ Collaboration
• Publication Date: 2022
• Other Authors: A. Allega, M. R. Anderson, S. Andringa, M. Askins, D. J. Auty, A. Bacon, N. Barros, F. Barão, R. Bayes, E. W. Beier, T. S. Bezerra, A. Bialek, S. D. Biller, E. Blucher, E. Caden, E. J. Callaghan, S. Cheng, M. Chen, O. Chkvorets, B. Cleveland, D. Cookman, J. Corning, M. A. Cox, R. Dehghani, C. Deluce, M. M. Depatie, J. Dittmer, K. H. Dixon, F. Di Lodovico, E. Falk, N. Fatemighomi, R. Ford, K. Frankiewicz, A. Gaur, O. I. González-Reina, D. Gooding, C. Grant, J. Grove, A. L. Hallin, D. Hallman, J. Hartnell, W. J. Heintzelman, R. L. Helmer, J. Hu, R. Hunt-Stokes, S. M. A. Hussain, A. S. Inácio, C. J. Jillings, T. Kaptanoglu, P. Khaghani, H. Khan, J. R. Klein, L. L. Kormos, B. Krar, C. Kraus, C. B. Krauss, T. Kroupová, I. Lam, B. J. Land, I. Lawson, L. Lebanowski, J. Lee, C. Lefebvre, J. Lidgard, Y. H. Lin, V. Lozza, M. Luo, A. Maio, S. Manecki, J. Maneira, R. D. Martin, N. McCauley, A. B. McDonald, M. Meyer, C. Mills, I. Morton-Blake, S. Naugle, L. J. Nolan, H. M. O'Keeffe, G. D. Orebi Gann, J. Page, W. Parker, J. Paton, S. J. M. Peeters, L. Pickard, P. Ravi, A. Reichold, S. Riccetto, R. Richardson, M. Rigan, J. Rose, J. Rumleskie, I. Semenec, P. Skensved, M. Smiley, R. Svoboda, B. Tam, J. Tseng, E. Turner, S. Valder, J. G. C. Veinot, C. J. Virtue, E. Vázquez-Jáuregui, J. Wang, M. Ward, J. J. Weigand, J. D. Wilson, J. R. Wilson, A. Wright, J. P. Yanez, S. Yang, M. Yeh, S. Yu, T. Zhang, Y. Zhang, K. Zuber, A. Zummo
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/45468

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.