Proton Decay Experiments

Abstract

Two principle techniques are described and have been used in proton decay searches. The author notes that at present, there is simply no evidence that protons decay. The fact that there are physicists actively engaged in the search is mute testimony to the baryon asymmetry of the universe, the author says, and by inference, that protons do decay at some level. It is important to find such a process, not least because its existence would be a unique test of the ideas of grand unification, and the observed decay modes would give an important insight to the nature of the mechanisms and gauge groups involved.