PHYSICAL REVIEW D VOLUME 25, NUMBER 9 1 MAY 1982

Effects of Fermi motion and secondary particle collisions

for proton decay in nuclei

T. A. Gabriel
Oak Ridge Nationa/ Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830

M. S. Goodman
High Energy Physics Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
(Received 26 February 1982)

The effects of Fermi motion and secondary particle collisions on the m e+ produced from pro-
ton decay in nuclei are investigated using a Monte Carlo program based on the intranuclear-
cascade model. The calculations indicate probabilities of 39%, 23%, and 15% for '60, Fe, and
Pb, respectively, for m and e+ to emerge simultaneously with angles 180'f13 . These prob-
abilities are insensitive to total energy cuts provided ET «0.95M~.

Current theories attempting to unify the strong, 1.0

electromagnetic, and weak interactions into a single
framework have led to predictions that baryon ~ ~
number is not a strictly conserved quantity. ' In order Ol
0.8
0 16
to verify this prediction, several experiments are
currently underway to search for proton decay. Due ' 0.6
to the long predicted proton half-life ()10'0 yr), all
of these experiments must use very large fiducial V)
Z
volumes consisting of nuclei and hydrogen. A limit- ~~ 4—
0.
ing factor in all these experiments is the identification Z
O
of real proton-decay events and the separation of LLI

these rare events from background events. Many

o 0.2 't

Z
theoretical models3 predict that the dominant proton
decay mode will be p wee+ (with branching ratio
III
Ma
-0.
~

40). In a free proton decay of this type the angle B.E.

between the m and the e+ will be 180' and the total
energy will be the proton rest mass. Thus, the detec- 0' —10 o16
tion of the m e+ decay mode of the hydrogen nucleus P ROTO NS AND N E UT RONS
is the most unambiguous since total-energy and
—20
decay-vertex determination and event reconstruction I

can be reasonably done in detector systems now

0
under construction and in use. The other decay —30
Z
modes are probably more difficult to identify and as a
result to separate from background events. However, O
decay modes of both protons and neutrons inside nu- Z -40
clei (if these decays are possible4) are difficult to
identify. Not only are the energy and momentum of
—50
the decay products smeared by Fermi motion, but the
hadrons produced in the decay are likely to interact
before emerging from the nucleus. NUCLEAR RADIUS (fm I
Presented in this Communication for the ~ e+ de-
cay mode of the proton are intranuclear-cascade cal- FIG. 1. (a) A comparison between the Hofstadter data
culations based on Monte Carlo techniques to deter- (dashed curve) for 0 and the nuclear cascade model. (b)
mine the size and effect of Fermi motion and secon- Nucleon potential vs nuclear radius for ' O. B.E. is the
dary collisions on the energy and angular distribu- fixed binding energy of the most loosely bound nucleon (7
tions of the emerging m . Only the effect of Fermi MeV).

2463 1982 The American Physical Society

2464 RAPID COMMUNICATIONS 25

I I I I I I I I I
OXYGEN 5) IRON (c) LEAD
7f (NO SECONDARY ---- (WITH SECONDARY
7I'

10 COLLISIONS) CO L L ISI0NS)

2
4g
gl I
I ~ I
I I

10 ft L
l
I
I
Lg
I
CO ~ I I I
1
I

L 'II I
I I

0 ~,
'hr, r'
L ~uP
~
I
I I
I
I
l~

2 I
I
I
I

I
I
I
I
tg' I
I l I

1O-4 'e'
I

, e+ O
I

e+
5—
I

Jl I I I I I

200 400 600 0 200 400 600 2CO 400 600 700
KINETIC ENERGY (MeV)

FIG. 2. Effect of Fermi motion on the energy spectra of the m and e+ in intranuclear proton decay (solid histogram) and of
secondary collisions and Fermi motion on the energy spectra of the m (dashed histogram).

motion is included for the e+. The Monte Carlo ap- This model incorporates the diffuseness of the nu-
proach was used so that correlated energy and angle clear edge, the Fermi motion of the bound nucleons,
data could be obtained and realistic nuclear effects in- the exclusion principle, and a local potential for nu-
corporated. cleons and pions.
The intranuclear-cascade concept of particle- The density of the neutrons and protons within the
nucleus interaction as implemented by Bertini' is nucleus (which is used with the total-cross-section
used to determine the effect of Fermi motion and data to determine interaction locations) are deter-
secondary particle collisions on the emerging mo. mined from the experimental data of Hofstadter.
This Monte Carlo program has been used for a The Hofstadter density profile for ' 0 is given in Fig.
variety of calculations and has been shown to agree 1(a) along with the three-region configuration used
well with many experimental results in the energy in the calculation which approximates the continuous
range below 3 GeV. The underlying assumption of density variation. Nuclear potentials are determined
the intranuclear-cascade model is that particle-nuclear from these three density profiles by using a zero-
interactions can be treated as a series of two-body temperature Fermi distribution. The total well depth
collisions within the nucleus and that the location of is then defined as the Fermi energy plus 7 MeV
the collision and resulting particles from the collision (which represents the average binding energy of the
are governed by experimental and/or theoretical most loosely bound nucleon). The well potentials for
particle-particle total- and differential-cross-section '60 are given in Fig. 1(b).
data. ' The types of particle collisions included in the The location and energy of the protons which de-
calculation are elastic, inelastic, and charge exchange. cay in ' 0 are sampled from these distributions. Ap-

2 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

, , (a) OXYGEN IRON (c) LEAD

5
NO SECONDARY I WITH SECONDARY ———WITH SECONDARY
2 COLLISIONS COLLISIONS AND CO L L I S I ON S
KE o + KE + + M
10o 7r e 7r
M+
e+
~0.95 M
.JN
2 L
~
&Ll I
~I
(
I I
I

ofJ: 10-" II PX
'tlI
L ~
\ ~
K
XX
I
L
lpga
I.
LfeL Lfr-i\
CL X L ~
L ~ '-r-~ ~ J~-5- L Lx L»f
L I I
X I I
X I
I X I
'
-NOTE SCALE CHANGE '
, NOTE SCALE CHANGE I -NOTE SCALE CHANGE
X I I

10-2 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Ir I I I I I I I I I

—1.0 —0.8 0.0 0.8 —1.0 -0.8 0.0 0.8 —1.0 —0.8 0.0 0.8
COSINE OF ANGLE BETWEEN 7f AND e+
FIG. 3. Correlated angular distributions of the emerging m" and e+ with and without secondary collisions and with and
without cuts on their total energy.
25 RAPID COMMUNICATIONS 2465

00 ~p-v-+-g~it.
propriate distributions are used for the other nuclei. i I
i I I I I( l I 1
I
I I 1L
NO SECONDARY o 8(e', e+) ~& 154',
The direction of the proton is assumed to be isotropic COLL IS I ONS
ET ~» 0.95 M P
and the kinematics determine the initial directions
and energies of the e+ and m . WITH SECONDARY
~ 8(~, e') ~ 154, NO
COL LISIONS RESTRICTION ON ET
The angle-integrated energy spectra of the emerg- I-

ing ~ and e+ from ' 0, ' Fe, and 'Pb nuclei are
—
tel
10 I I I I I III
I Ill
) 167',
I
l I l I I I I

NO SECONDARY
f

presented in Fig. 2. The data presented are based on 0 ~ COLLISIONS o 8(g' e+)
50000 proton-decay events per element and sample
CC
ET ~
&0.95 M
P

statistical errors are indicated in the figure. The solid WITH

~ 8(m', e+) P 167', NO
lines represent the effect of Fermi motion on the par- SECONDARY
COI LISIONS
RESTRICTION ON ET

ticles. The energy of the m and the e+ from the de- 10 ~ I I I I IIIII I I I I I I I II I I I I l I II
101 102 103 104
cay of a free hydrogen nucleus is given in the figure 2 5 2 5 2 5
ATOMIC NUMBER
(arrows) for reference. The heavier nuclei yield dis-
tributions which are less peaked around the energies FIG. 4. Probability vs atomic number for observing the
expected for free hydrogen decay. The dashed curve emerging ~ and e+ for various angles and energy re-
shows the m spectra from the nuclei when secondary strictions. -
(ET KE 0 + KE e ++ M 0 +Me +.)
collisions are allowed in addition to the Fermi
motion. Since a hadronic mean free path in nuclear
matter is & 2.5 fm, the effect of secondary collisions
is smaller for '60 (radius -5.2 fm), than for heavy
'
culated this probability and finds 0.33 using the at-
'
nuclei like 'Pb (radius -8.8 fm). tenuation of the pions inside the ' 0 nucleus. That
In free proton decay, the angle between the m and number must represent a lower estimate for this pro-
e+ will be 180' and the total energy is the mass of cess, since some of the collisions that the m en-
the proton. However, for intranuclear decays, the counters are quasielastic which results in small energy
Fermi motion of the nucleons, the binding energy of and angular changes. When this type of collision oc-
the nucleons, and secondary collisions of decay prod- curs, the m e+ can still emerge from the nucleus and
ucts will alter the angular distributions. Presented in appear as a correlated pair, thereby increasing the
Fig. 3 are the correlated angular distributions of the probability for correct detection of a decaying proton.
emerging m and e+ with and without secondary col- In conclusion, a Monte Carlo calculation has been
lisions and with and without cuts on the sum of the performed which indicates that the probability of ob-
total energy of the emerging m and e+. A substan- serving a m and an electron back-to-back from the
tial number of intranuclear decays (39% for "0, 23% intranuclear decay of a proton is about 0.39 for ' 0
for 56Fe, and 15% for 207Pb) still yield a mo and e+ given the restriction that the angle between these par-
which are close to the rest mass of the proton in en- ticles is ~167' (180' + l3'). If the sensitivity of a
ergy and which are emitted nearly 180' apart. Note water-based system is calculated on the basis solely of
that the probabilities are insensitive to energy cuts the decay of the hydrogen alone, it should be in-
provided ET «0.
95M» where ET is the total energy of creased threefold if proton decay inside nuclei can oc-
the emerging m and e+. Five percent of the rest cur.
mass of a proton corresponds to — 50 MeV, the size
of the nuclear potential. We thank Professor Earl Fowler and Dr. T. R. Pal-
The dependence of the m e+ emission probability frey of Purdue University for suggesting the need for
on the atomic weight (A) is shown in Fig. 4. The these calculations and for useful discussion. This
probability for observing a correlated woe+ pair is research was sponsored by U. S. Department of Ener-
0.39 in ' if the angle between them is ~167 and
0 gy under Contracts No. W-7405-eng-26 and No. DE-
0.57 for angles «154'. Recently, Sparrow' has cal- AC02-76ER03064.

'J. C. Pati
and A. Salam, Phys. Rev. D 10, 275 (1974); H.
Georgi and S. L. Glashow, Phys. Rev. Lett. 32, 438
(1975).
2Proton-decay experiments olanned and underway are re-
viewed in M. Goldhaber, Science 210, 851 (1980) and S.
%'einberg, Sci. Am. 244 (No. 6), 64 (1981).
The theoretical predictions are reviewed in P. Langacker,
Phys. Rep. 72, 185 (1981).
4J. M. Fernandez de Labastida and F. J. Ynduriin, Phys.
Rev. Lett. 47, 1101 (1981).
5H. W. Bertini, Phys. Rev. C 6, 631 (1972).
The code is a modified version of MEcc-7, available from
Radiation Shielding Information Center, Oak Ridge Na-
tional Laboratory, Oak Ride, Tenn. 37830.
In addition to a detailed discussion of the model, the tech-
nique used to obtain the cross-section data sets used is
given in Ref. 5.
R. Hofstadter, Rev. Mod. Phys. 28, 214 (1956).
These are the maximum nuclear radii used in the calcula-
tions to account for skin effects and therefore are natural-
ly larger than the normal rms radii (1.12M ~ ).
'OD. A. Sparrow, Phys. Rev. Lett. 44, 625 (1980).