@article{b3fb2db8081141869e7b10ceb6c8fa94,
title = "Search for proton decay via p→e+π0 and p→μ+π0 in 0.31 megaton·years exposure of the Super-Kamiokande water Cherenkov detector",
abstract = "We have searched for proton decay via p→e+π0 and p→μ+π0 using Super-Kamiokande data from April 1996 to March 2015, 0.306 megaton·years exposure in total. The atmospheric neutrino background rate in Super-Kamiokande IV is reduced to almost half that of phase I-III by tagging neutrons associated with neutrino interactions. The reach of the proton lifetime is further enhanced by introducing new signal criteria that select the decay of a proton in a hydrogen atom. No candidates were seen in the p→e+π0 search. Two candidates that passed all of the selection criteria for p→μ+π0 have been observed, but these are consistent with the expected number of background events of 0.87. Lower limits on the proton lifetime are set at τ/B(p→e+π0)>1.6×1034 years and τ/B(p→μ+π0)>7.7×1033 years at 90% confidence level.",
author = "{(Super-Kamiokande Collaboration)} and K. Abe and Y. Haga and Y. Hayato and M. Ikeda and K. Iyogi and J. Kameda and Y. Kishimoto and M. Miura and S. Moriyama and M. Nakahata and T. Nakajima and Y. Nakano and S. Nakayama and A. Orii and H. Sekiya and M. Shiozawa and A. Takeda and H. Tanaka and T. Tomura and Wendell, {R. A.} and R. Akutsu and T. Irvine and T. Kajita and K. Kaneyuki and Y. Nishimura and E. Richard and K. Okumura and L. Labarga and P. Fernandez and J. Gustafson and C. Kachulis and E. Kearns and Raaf, {J. L.} and Stone, {J. L.} and Sulak, {L. R.} and S. Berkman and Nantais, {C. M.} and Tanaka, {H. A.} and S. Tobayama and M. Goldhaber and Kropp, {W. R.} and S. Mine and P. Weatherly and Smy, {M. B.} and Sobel, {H. W.} and V. Takhistov and Ganezer, {K. S.} and Hartfiel, {B. L.} and J. Hill and Wilking, {M. J.}",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 American Physical Society.",
year = "2017",
month = jan,
day = "6",
doi = "10.1103/PhysRevD.95.012004",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "95",
journal = "Physical Review D",
issn = "2470-0010",
publisher = "American Physical Society",
number = "1",
}