Search for GUT monopoles at Super-Kamiokande

GUT monopoles captured by the Sun's gravitation are expected to catalyze proton decays via the Callan-Rubakov process. In this scenario, protons, which initially decay into pions, will ultimately produce ^νe, ^νμ and ν̄ μ. After undergoing neutrino oscillation, all neutrino species appear when they arrive at the Earth, and can be detected by a 50,000 metric ton Water Cherenkov detector, Super-Kamiokande (SK). A search for low energy neutrinos in the electron total energy range from 19 to 55 MeV was carried out with SK and gives a monopole flux limit of F M( ^σ0/1mb)<6.3×10 ^-24( ^βM/10 ^-3) ²cm- ²s- ¹sr- ¹ at 90% C.L., where ^βM is the monopole velocity in units of the speed of light and ^σ0 is the catalysis cross section at ^βM=1. The obtained limit is several orders of magnitude more stringent than the current best cosmic-ray supermassive monopole flux limit for ^βM<10 ^-2 and also two orders of magnitude lower than the result of the Kamiokande experiment, which used a similar detection method.© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Duke Scholars

Author Kate Scholberg Physics

Author Christopher Walter Physics