Experimental test of charge conservation and the stability of the electron
Abstract
A new experimental lower limit of 5.3 × 1021 years for the mean lifetime of the electron for decay into nonionizing particles is reported. A finite value for this lifetime would have implied a breakdown of the law of charge conservation. The experimental technique consists of a search for the internally-absorbed 11.1-keV x-ray and Auger-electron cascade which would follow the decay of a K-shell electron in a germanium atom in a high-resolution Ge(Li) detector.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review D
- Pub Date:
- November 1975
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevD.12.2582
- Bibcode:
- 1975PhRvD..12.2582S