Non-Canonical Nucleon Decays as Window into Light New Physics

Abstract

Nucleon decays are generic predictions of motivated theories, including those based on the unification of forces and supersymmetry. We demonstrate that non-canonical nucleon decays offer a unique opportunity to broadly probe light new particles beyond the Standard Model with masses below $\sim$few GeV over decades in mass range, including axion-like particles, dark photons, sterile neutrinos, and scalar dark matter. Conventional searches can misinterpret and even completely miss such new physics. We propose a general strategy based on momenta of visible decay final states to probe these processes, offering a rich physics program for existing and upcoming experiments such as Super-Kamiokande, Hyper-Kamiokande, DUNE, and JUNO.