Protontiluku

Protontiluku is a hypothetical subatomic particle proposed in the Protontiluku framework, a speculative extension of the Standard Model of particle physics. The name blends pro-ton with a suffix used for elementary quanta, reflecting its proposed role as a new baryon-related degree of freedom. The concept appears in theoretical discussions as a way to explore small discrepancies in baryon-number related processes and in the structure of nucleons.

In the framework, protontiluku is predicted to be a neutral fermion with spin 1/2 and a mass that could lie in the tens to a few hundred MeV/c^2, depending on the chosen parameters. It carries a new quantum number, denoted T, which governs its coupling to baryons. Its interactions with Standard Model fields are assumed to be weak and highly suppressed, typically arising from a Yukawa-like coupling to nucleons and, in some variants, via mixing with gauge bosons in a dark sector.

Phenomenology of the protontiluku includes potential production in high-energy proton collisions or in nuclear reactions, with decays into final states that may include nucleons and light mesons or lepton pairs. Predicted lifetimes range from picoseconds to microseconds, which could produce displaced signatures in particle detectors. In addition, the presence of protontiluku could modify short-range baryon forces, with possible effects on precise measurements of nuclear binding and nucleon form factors.

Experimental status: Protontiluku remains hypothetical and has not been observed. Constraints are derived from collider searches, fixed-target experiments, and precision nuclear data, which limit its coupling strength and mass. Ongoing programs and proposed experiments aim to search for missing-energy signals, displaced vertices, or deviations in nucleon-nucleon interactions that would indicate a new baryonic mediator.

See also: Baryon-number conservation, Dark sector physics, Hidden photons, Proton radius puzzle.