In particle physics, the baryon number (B) is an additive quantum number of a system. It is defined aswhere is the number of quarks, and is the number of antiquarks. Baryons (three quarks) have B = +1, mesons (one quark, one antiquark) have B = 0, and antibaryons (three antiquarks) have B = −1. Exotic hadrons like pentaquarks (four quarks, one antiquark) and tetraquarks (two quarks, two antiquarks) are also classified as baryons and mesons depending on their baryon number. In the Standard Model B conservation is an accidental symmetry which means that it appears in the Standard Model but is often violated when going beyond it. Physics beyond the Standard Model theories that contain baryon number violation are, for example, Standard Model with extra dimensions, Supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theory and String theory.
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Conservation of baryon number in the context of Proton decay
Proton decay is the hypothetical decay of a proton into lighter subatomic particles, such as a neutral pion and a positron. The proton decay hypothesis was first formulated by Andrei Sakharov in 1967. Despite significant experimental effort, proton decay has never been observed. If it does decay via a positron, the proton's half-life is constrained to be at least 1.67×10 years.
According to the Standard Model, the proton, a type of baryon, is stable because baryon number (quark number) is conserved (under normal circumstances; see Chiral anomaly for an exception). Therefore, protons will not decay into other particles on their own, because they are the lightest (and therefore least energetic) baryon. Positron emission and electron capture—forms of radioactive decay in which a proton becomes a neutron—are not proton decay, since the proton interacts with other particles within the atom.