Search for Anomalous Lifetime Values in Sea-Level Cosmic Radiation

Abstract

By use of a scintillation counter telescope, sea-level cosmic radiation was investigated for the existence of particles of mass greater than $60{m}_{e}$, decaying with lifetimes in the millisecond region. If such particles exist, their intensity, relative to $\ensuremath{\mu}$ mesons, for various lifetime ranges, must be as follows: for ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ to ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ sec, \ensuremath{\leqslant} 0.03%; for ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ to 5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ sec, \ensuremath{\leqslant} 0.1%; for ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ to ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ sec, \ensuremath{\leqslant} 0.14%; for ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ to ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ sec (for decay into a light meson), \ensuremath{\leqslant} 0.03%; for ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ to 1.0 sec, \ensuremath{\leqslant} 1.4%.