Decay of the proton

The stability of the proton and its relationship to the conservation law for baryon number is discussed. Of the non-dynamical conservation laws, only that for baryon number has not been associated with the strong or electroweak forces and shown to be a mathematical consequence of modern theories of elementary particle interactions. There are indications that baryon number conservation may not be exact and that consequently protons should have a finite lifetime. Theoretically proton decay is possible only with the admission of extremely heavy exotic particles. The existence of such particles and the order of magnitude of the proton lifetime are consistent with theories attempting to unify the strong and electroweak forces. Current and proposed experiments to detect proton decay are briefly described