The bound on the proton lifetime is one of a small handful of observations that constrains physics not far from the Planck scale. This calls for a calculation of the proton lifetime in quantum gravity. Here, we calculate how quantum fluctuations of the metric impact four-fermion interactions which mediate proton decay. We find that quantum gravity lowers the scaling dimension of the four-fermion interaction, suppressing proton decay and raising the proton lifetime significantly. As a special case, we analyze asymptotically safe quantum gravity, in which we discover that proton-decay-mediating four-fermion interactions are strictly zero.
%0 Journal Article
%1 eichhorn2024suppression
%A Eichhorn, Astrid
%A Ray, Shouryya
%D 2024
%J Phys. Lett. B
%K c
%P 138529
%R https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2024.138529
%T Suppression of proton decay in quantum gravity
%U https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037026932400087X
%V 850
%X The bound on the proton lifetime is one of a small handful of observations that constrains physics not far from the Planck scale. This calls for a calculation of the proton lifetime in quantum gravity. Here, we calculate how quantum fluctuations of the metric impact four-fermion interactions which mediate proton decay. We find that quantum gravity lowers the scaling dimension of the four-fermion interaction, suppressing proton decay and raising the proton lifetime significantly. As a special case, we analyze asymptotically safe quantum gravity, in which we discover that proton-decay-mediating four-fermion interactions are strictly zero.
@article{eichhorn2024suppression,
abstract = {The bound on the proton lifetime is one of a small handful of observations that constrains physics not far from the Planck scale. This calls for a calculation of the proton lifetime in quantum gravity. Here, we calculate how quantum fluctuations of the metric impact four-fermion interactions which mediate proton decay. We find that quantum gravity lowers the scaling dimension of the four-fermion interaction, suppressing proton decay and raising the proton lifetime significantly. As a special case, we analyze asymptotically safe quantum gravity, in which we discover that proton-decay-mediating four-fermion interactions are strictly zero.},
added-at = {2024-04-26T14:54:17.000+0200},
author = {Eichhorn, Astrid and Ray, Shouryya},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/21cc79aed30a23e53c0dcf332c47829cb/ctqmat},
day = 01,
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2024.138529},
interhash = {e952ec266ca2081f6eecf3dc1aa3fbdc},
intrahash = {1cc79aed30a23e53c0dcf332c47829cb},
issn = {03702693},
journal = {Phys. Lett. B},
keywords = {c},
month = {03},
pages = 138529,
timestamp = {2024-04-26T14:54:17.000+0200},
title = {Suppression of proton decay in quantum gravity},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037026932400087X},
volume = 850,
year = 2024
}