DoP Colloquium - Ilja Doršner

On matter stability
(Ilja Doršner, FESB, Sveučilište u Splitu)

A question of stability of matter is at the heart of major scientific advances of the last two centuries. A breakthrough discovery of spontaneous radioactivity – a process that is in effect a decay of an unstable atomic nucleus – by the French scientist Henri Becquerel in 1896 has simply revolutionized modern physics. It is thus not surprising that the stability of nucleons has also been at the forefront of both experimental and theoretical research for decades now. However, despite all the experimental effort to push relevant partial lifetime limits (and plethora of optimistic predictions from theorists) proton is yet to decay.

I will review current experimental status of searches for nucleon (in)stability and what we could learn if and when proton finally decays. I will also briefly present theoretical motivation to continue search for these extraordinary processes. After all, a major push in this direction might create a breakthrough in other areas of elementary particle physics. This has already happened not so long ago when a pursue of better limits on proton lifetime had led to a major breakthrough in neutrino physics. And, it just might happen once again in near future.