The scientists have obtained a new limit on the electron lifetime for the decay to electrically neutral particles (neutrino and photon).

Such a decay is forbidden only by the electric charge conservation law, and the absence of photons of energy equal to half of the electron mass is therefore treated by physicists as an experimental proof of this law. As follows from the results of the investigation, the electron lifetime is at least 6.6×10²⁸ years. The Universe is much younger, its age is «just» 1.5×10¹⁰ years.

The results are obtained with active participation of Dubna physicists and published in the Physical Review Letters journal on behalf of the Borexino collaboration. The article is chosen by the referee as the heading material of the issue. Description on the journal web-site:  http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.231802

This is already the second Borexino result chosen as the heading material of the issue this year. This summer the collaboration has published new results on the geoneutrino fluxes, where the neutrino signal from the Earth mantle is observed for the first time. Description on the journal web-site: http://physics.aps.org/articles/v8/79