At this moment, Tom still didn't know the specific decay path of proton decay.

It might decay into a positron and a pion. If so, the pion would then decay into two photons, and the positron would annihilate with surrounding electrons, also producing additional photons.

It could also decay via another path, into a muon and a kaon. And the kaon would also decay into a pion, which would subsequently decay into photons.

Or it could decay into a neutrino and a kaon.

The different decay paths Tom speculated on shared a commonality: the final products always included photons.

Therefore, following a detection mechanism almost identical to that for neutrinos, as long as the proton decay detector's photomultiplier tubes could capture the photons produced by proton decay, or detect the Cherenkov radiation generated by intermediate products moving at superluminal speeds in water, it would be possible to confirm that proton decay had been detected. Through the various phenomena of this process, he could then investigate the specific path and detailed data of proton decay.

Of course, since it was used for proton decay detection, neutrinos also became a source of interference at this moment.

Neutrinos possess extremely strong penetrating power; even if Tom built the detector tens of thousands of meters deep underground on a dwarf planet, it would be impossible to exclude them.

Fortunately, however, the microscopic particles and phenomena produced by neutrino collisions have certain differences from those produced by proton decay.

Tom could then devise corresponding algorithms and judgment procedures, and with his personal judgment controlling the clone, he could exclude neutrino collision events.

At this moment, powered by the dedicated nuclear fusion power station, this massive underground experimental facility began operation.

The spherical water tank, with a capacity of up to 120 million tons, had a diameter of over 600 meters.

A massive sphere with a diameter of over 600 meters was truly as majestic as a mountain. If it weren't for the low gravity of this dwarf planet, the tank material alone would have given Tom a major headache.

But even on a dwarf planet, to contain this water, Tom had to adopt a special tank structure, combined with the support of the dwarf planet's own rock, to keep it stable and prevent deformation.

Within this mountain-like spherical body, Tom installed billions of photomultiplier tubes to maximize sensitivity and not miss any photons.

The data generated by these billions of photomultiplier tubes were all ultimately converged into a supercomputer specially built for it, used for data analysis and discrimination.

Coupled with various other facilities, for this single proton decay detector alone, Tom excavated a total of over a billion tons of earth, completely filling a canyon on this dwarf planet.

Aside from the enormous cost of initial construction, for ongoing maintenance alone, Tom had to place about ten thousand clones here. At the same time, an additional one hundred thousand clones' brainpower was diverted, so that they did nothing but think about matters related to this detector.

But even so, this was just the beginning.

How could one proton decay detector be enough?

Don't forget, 10^36 years is only the lower limit of a proton's lifespan. Tom did not know its true lifespan at this moment.

What if its lifespan was 10^46 years? In that case, from a probabilistic perspective, the probability of this detector detecting a proton decay event once within a year would be only a few hundred millionths.

Even if its lifespan wasn't that long, Tom needed to consider more additional things.

Even if Tom had tried his best to improve accuracy, it would be impossible to precisely capture every proton decay event. It was very likely that even if proton decay occurred, it would be missed by the detector or misidentified as a neutrino event.

Even if Tom could precisely capture every proton decay event, studying the proton decay process thoroughly would not be determined by a mere single observation.

That would require hundreds of thousands, or even millions, tens of millions of repeated observations, to truly clarify its complete modes and processes, and finally turn it into theory, integrating it into his Unified Field Formula framework.

In that case, how could one detector be enough?

In fact, Tom's plan for proton decay detectors was not one, not ten, but 1,000!

If accuracy wasn't enough, if the probability was too low, then make up for it with quantity!

For an ordinary Electroweak Civilization, a super-large scientific facility of this kind, an entire civilization might build three or four at most, and any more would be unsustainable.

Even if the industrial infrastructure capacity could support it, the talent reserve would not be able to.

This thing isn't built and then runs automatically. It also requires a large number of top scientists to be involved.

One detector requires at least ten thousand top scientists!

Just build a few, then try every means possible, accumulate bit by bit, slowly iterate and optimize, like water dripping on a stone, to maximize detection accuracy, in order to completely detect the proton decay process.

But at this moment, Tom didn't have that kind of time!

Even if Tom had the time, he wouldn't do that.

Not using his super-strong industrial strength, but instead following the path of an ordinary Electroweak Civilization, wouldn't that be foolish?

He had to go for brute force, he had to go for the path of overwhelming power; this was Tom's strength.

Thus, under Tom's control, tens of thousands of small scientific research vessels began flying towards the almost countless larger asteroids and dwarf planets in the Pegasus V342 star system, comprehensively investigating their geological structures, elemental compositions, and other data, to select suitable construction sites.

It couldn't be too large, otherwise its own gravity would be too high, causing the pure water tank to deform.

It couldn't be too small, otherwise the rock layer wouldn't be thick enough to provide sufficient protection for the detector.

It couldn't have too many heavy elements, otherwise its own background radiation would be too high, severely interfering with the detector's performance.

It couldn't be too close to a star. Because Pegasus V342 is a genuine strong neutrino radiation source.

It couldn't even be too close to a gas giant. Because gas giants also radiate a large amount of neutrinos.

After a selection process, Tom quickly chose 1,000 target planets. Then, heavy transport ships were dispatched, fully loaded with various materials produced in the industrial base, fully loaded with various engineering machinery, and fully loaded with a large number of clones and humanoid general-purpose robots, landing on these planets. With the cooperation of the Hestia AI, a new round of large-scale construction began.

At this moment, without any spaceship manufacturing or fleet navigation preparations, Tom's massive industrial system, prepared in advance, entered full operational status.

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