Thomas the Tank Engine

As few blog entries back I noted that proton lifetime was 10^25 years. It has been pointed out to me that this is 10^9 years shorter than current estimates. My bads.

Proton decay is one of the few unobserved effects of GUT (the Theory of Life, the Universe and Everything) and was a focus of major experimental physics efforts starting in the early 1980s.

To date, all attempts to observe proton decay have failed.

In my view the experimental physicists have two choices: to run their experiments for another 10^24 years or so, or, and this is the far more exciting option, build a whopping big electromagnetic train track in Switzerland somewhere and set up a collision between protons that smashes the crap out of them.

Money well spent I say.