Abstract
An experiment has been performed in which events not directly attributable to cosmic rays or natural radioactivity were observed for 4500 h in a 200-liter liquid scintillation detector. Shielding from cosmic rays was obtained through anticoincidence techniques and by locating the detector 585 m underground. Background from natural radioactivity was reduced by placing high-energy requirements on acceptable events. The residual signal has been used to establish new lower limits on the stability of nucleons and a new upper limit on the product of the cross section and the electron neutrino (${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e}, {\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{e}$) flux whatever its origin, providing its energy is 400 MeV and >30 MeV (${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e}$) or > 12 MeV (${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{e}$). Depending on the assumed decay modes, nucleon lifetime limits in the range 0.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{28}$ to 4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{28}$ years were obtained. The upper limits on the neutrino cross-section flux products are $8.5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}38}{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e}$ ${\mathrm{sec}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ and $3.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}38}{\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{e}$ ${\mathrm{sec}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$.
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