Abstract
Recent studies of the interaction between fermions and grand unification monopoles have shown that the cross-sections for monopole-catalysed proton decay reactions such as M + p → M + e+ + π0 are independent of the unification scale, MX, in fact of typical strong interaction size.1,2 Other speakers at this conference have discussed the phenomenological implications of this result, so I will concentrate on trying to explain why it happens. Since fairly subtle field theory phenomena are involved, I will not be able to give an exhaustive discussion in the short time available to me. Instead, I will present a line of argument which, while incomplete, brings out what I believe to be the essential physical mechanisms underlying this rather paradoxical phenomenon. I hope to convince the baffled experimentalist as well as the skeptical theorist that sensible physics, not magic, is responsible for monopole catalysis of baryon decay.
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References
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I am indebted to C. Goebel for discussions on this point.
I am indebted to T. Tomaras for discussions on this subject.
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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York
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Callan, C.G. (1983). Catalysis of Baryon Decay. In: Carrigan, R.A., Trower, W.P. (eds) Magnetic Monopoles. NATO Advanced Science Institutes Series, vol 102. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7370-8_6
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