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GR: Fachverband Gravitation und Relativitätstheorie

GR 4: Quantum Gravity

GR 4.3: Talk

Tuesday, March 21, 2023, 17:40–18:00, ZEU/0260

Proton Stability and Quantum Gravity: Towards an asymptotically safe perspective — Astrid Eichhorn and •Shouryya Ray — CP3 Origins, Institut for Fysik, Kemi og Farmaci, Syddansk Universitet, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark

The observed long lifetime ( 10³⁴ yrs) of the proton can pose serious constraints on UV completions of the Standard Model. In those that include quantum gravity, fluctuations of the spacetime metric are often argued to break all effective global symmetries; baryon number conservation, which prevents proton decay, being one of them. Here, I shall present our computations concerning the proton lifetime within asymptotically safe quantum gravity. Time permitting, I shall speculate on how asymptotically safe metric fluctuations may in fact reconcile a significantly reduced quantum gravity scale with proton stability, and thereby possibly also stabilize the proton in certain GUT scenarios afflicted by excessive proton decay.