An investigation of the stability of nucleons

Summary  A search has been made for relativistic charged particles emitted by the decay of nucleons. No such events were detected, and according to postulates made about the decay mode, lower limits may be set on the nucleon lifetime. These vary between 1.5·1026 and 2.8·1026 years for nucleons in many-particle nuclei and between 2.2·1024 and 4.7·1024 years for protons in hydrogen.