The paradox of material stability
The material that makes up our daily lives, objects around us, is stable. If we look at particles such as protons, one might think that they would disintegrate after a certain time. After all, everything that is built ends up deteriorating. Even radioactive materials, like uranium, slowly decompose by emitting particles.
But, for protons, it's another story. Scientists scrutinized the universe with super-sensitive detectors to find a sign of their disintegration. Nothing. Radio silence. No disintegration observed, even after 14 billion years. Why then?
A question of quarks and conservation laws
To understand this mystery, it is necessary to dive into the very structure of matter. Ordinary matter is made up of atoms, themselves made up of subatomic particles such as protons, neutrons and electrons. But protons and neutrons are themselves formed by quarks, even smaller particles.
Why, therefore, the protons seem indestructible? The answer lies in conservation laws, fundamental principles that govern the universe on a subatomic scale. One of the most important laws is that of energy conservation. For a particle to disintegrate, it must release an amount of energy equal to or greater than its own mass. However, the proton is the lightest particle among those constituting ordinary matter, which makes its disintegration theoretically impossible.
The conservation of the load also plays a crucial role. A proton has a positive charge (+1), and if it would disintegrate, the products of its disintegration should also present a positive charge in one way or another. However, no combination of particles has yet been observed respecting these conservation laws.
But here is where the mystery becomes even more interesting: although these principles of conservation make the disintegration of protons extremely improbable, that does not mean that they are immortal. In reality, some recent studies indeed suggest the possibility that protons can disintegrate after … 2 x 10^34 years, about a thousand billion billions of times the age of the universe!
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Atomic structure composed of protons, neutrons and electrons.? Credits: Headelote/ISTOCK
A search for eternity
Despite everything, scientists have not abandoned the idea that, perhaps one day, a proton will eventually disintegrate. One of the most ambitious projects to test this hypothesis is the experience of a Dune (Down Underground Neutrino Experiment), the main aim of which is to study neutrinos. However, the detector used in this project also makes it possible to seek the disintegration of protons, looking for signs of unexpected degradation.
For the moment, no disintegration has been observed. However, experiences like Dune could bring us new perspectives and answers to this question which remains unanswered. If the protons disintegrate one day, scientists will witness a fundamental phenomenon that would upset our understanding of the laws of physics.
Deep implications for the future of the universe
If one day we observe the disintegration of protons, it would be a revolutionary discovery. This could mark a turning point in our understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe and allow us to explore new aspects of physics that we still do not know.
And although it seems distant, the fact that we have never observed the disintegration of protons in 14 billion years of existence of the universe raises questions about the stability of matter itself. In this perpetual evolution cosmos, the “paradox of the stability of protons” could one day be one of the keys to understand the end of the universe.
